Into the Stars
by fairyfan777
Summary: In post-apocalyptic Ishgar, humans are struggling for the right to survive as Acnologia and Zeref tear the world to pieces. They have one chance to survive, and one hope. They press forward, for themselves, and for their fallen friends. Lalu, Gruvia, JellalxLisanna, and implied prior Nalu and Miraxus
1. Chapter 1

When Natsu fell, the whole world went with him.

It had been years since then, and it felt like a hundred lifetimes ago.

Where there were once proud, strong cities, there were fields of rubble that had long ceased their smoldering and rotting, residents entombed beneath the ruins of the houses where they once lived, the schools their children used to attend, and the churches where they gathered to pray during that first horrifying year.

Tired eyes scanned the area cautiously and some memories flashed quickly.

When he was a child, he came here often. He could remember sitting on the train with his grandfather, excitedly staring out the window at the pristine countryside. After that, he was sitting on his grandfather's shoulders walking through the city with eyes bright for a future he now knew _did not exist_.

Laxus closed his eyes, and he could see Clover again. He could make out the shapes of buildings on the horizon, the smells of life: of food, of people, of the city. He could hear a bustling crowd around the train station, where everyone was in a hurry to get to wherever they were going.

He opened them again, and there were only ruins. It was quiet.

There was a piece of gnarled railroad track to one side, a broken sign, a sunbleached, skeletal hand near his foot. The rotting smell was nearly completely gone, but a hint still lingered from bodies still far under the mess who were taking their time to return to the dust.

"I used to come here with the geezer," he said as he turned.

He didn't expect an answer, and he didn't get one.

Wendy watched him from the shadows in silence, as she had since that day. She'd sustained a serious throat injury during the rumble between Fairy Tail, Zeref, and Acnologia now referred to as the Black Dawn, but even after she recovered, she remained mute and hadn't made so much as a squeak since that day.

She become such a ferocious fighter, and she followed him often, but she only listened and shook or nodded her head. Sometimes, she seemed unspeakably afraid and he didn't know why; all the worst things had already happened.

Their happy little Fairy Tail world had been devoured and replaced by a grim, gruesome future. On one day, almost all of their members died, most of them in the most disgusting, gut-turning ways imaginable. Ripped apart, eaten, decapitated, crushed...there was no moral high ground, no object lesson when the good guys won.

In this era, the world was being transformed by the ongoing war between Zeref and Acnologia.

And in this era, Laxus Dreyar _was_ the hope of the whole world.

All his life, he wanted to lead the guild, but in the end, he ended up holding up all of humanity on his shoulders as one of the last two dragonslayers. Whatever resistance humanity had left, they threw behind him and his tired, scarred body.

Wendy helped him live through horrific injuries, because without her he was sure he would have died at least twenty or so deaths.

A twig snapped and he turned to see Orga Nanagear, one of the most powerful wizards left in the Resistance.

Laxus gave him a glare of distinct disapproval. "You're not the person I expected."

"What do you want Yukino for?" he answered.

The dragonslayer replied, "We have a strategy. It requires a celestial wizard."

"Where is yours?"

Laxus narrowed his eyes. "Don't fuck with me. As far as I know, she died during the Black Dawn. The last time I saw her, she was trying to hold Natsu's insides in his body on floor of the guild. Besides," he pulled a ring with ten keys from his pocket, "this is pretty compelling evidence Lucy's been dead for a while."

In olden times, such a brazen reference to gore would have made everyone present cringe. In this era, it was normal. They were all acquainted with the sights and smells of death.

Orga held up a ring with three golden keys. "Yukino has been gone for two years, you stupid shit."

"Whose left from Sabertooth?"

"I'm the last one. How about you?"

Laxus said, "Almost nobody is left. I assume you've heard about Mira."

Orga cringed and nodded. "We saw it in the mountains. What about Gildarts?"

"Gone."

"Whose left from the saints?"

"Nobody."

Orga said, "What now?"

"We need a summoner."

At first, there had been a fairly stiff resistance to the Dark War, but the magic world didn't draw its strength from countless people with a small amount of magic. Most of the power in the magic world was concentrated into less than a hundred extraordinary people and when they started to fall, so did the strength of the Resistance.

They'd stopped trying to win and focused on surviving for quite a while, with surviving wizards and new wizards working in groups to protect small groups of humans. The world was reverting to a nearly prehistoric state, rife with magic monsters and steeped in the spirit of death.

They'd run out of time.

They'd run out of options.

They'd run out of power.

The only thing they had left was hope, and that was enough to last through one more terrible night.

Jellal devised a magic strategy that might allow them to win, but they were one celestial spirit summoner short of being able to do it. They had all the keys, but no wizard, and despite his searches, the few summoners he found were barely capable of using silver keys.

It took years to become strong enough to use a golden key and they didn't have years. The search was further complicated by the fact Zeref kept killing summoners.

Orga gave him Yukino's keys and said, "The Dark Army is close to our stronghold. Our number is up, Laxus. Maybe you can make it work."

The resignation on his face was apparent, and Laxus almost envied him. He'd watched so many people come to the point where they just gave in and it gave them some semblance of peace before death. Laxus couldn't give up, and he refused to die.

They separated and Laxus and Wendy continued on their journey northward in search of a summoner hiding in the wilderness. When they caught Acnologia's scent less than halfway there, he separated from Wendy and sent her to their stronghold so they wouldn't both get caught by the black dragon.

Acnologia wasn't moving in either his direction nor hers; he was circling over an area in the wooded void between ragged mountains.

There were humans who lived in very small isolated groups in this area, but for the most part, because this pocket offered nothing to Acnologia or Zeref, it had previously been ignored.

He picked up Zeref's scent and knew this generally quiet area was about to become a massive, endless field of destruction. He also knew the Acnologia wouldn't pick a fight with him if Zeref was around because due to Natsu choosing to leave his flames to Laxus, the dragonslayer could give Acnologia a fight that was almost fair. Laxus believed he and Zeref might have been able to defeat Acnologia together, but it was an unacceptable idea because as long as Zeref and Acnologia both lived, they primarily fought each other. The survivor would decimate what was left of humanity.

Quickly, he used lightning form to zip under the canopy of trees, where he found a cluster of huts.

He woke everyone up and told them to run into the mountains and scatter if possible, because when the battle was over, Acnologia was going to be hungry and Zeref was going to be looking for souls to convert to magic power. Either way, they would be devoured if they were easy to catch.

Laxus sensed a strange magic coming from deeper in the woods, and he followed a path to a tiny clearing where one Lucy Heartfilia was standing in front of a small hut, staring fearfully at the sky.

Lucy felt a huge source of magic right in front of her and her head snapped quickly to where Laxus had entered her field of vision.

They stared at one another in disbelief, and the first thing he felt was near-crippling _rage_. His reflexes were conditioned to violence and little else, and had she not reminded him of his gentler days, he might have hit her.

"L-Laxus?"

He wasn't even sure what to say to her. "What the in the fuck are you doing here? Did you run away and not even tell anyone?"

"I…"

She was instantly terrified of him, because he'd become immensely powerful and he was obviously just very pissed off at her. "Laxus…"

"Everyone is fucking _dead_ , Lucy, and you're out here in the woods doing what?!"

She swallowed hard and said, "I…"

"You WHAT?" he indignantly asked.

The door flew open and a little boy came running out and grabbed on her legs, offering the stranger a haunting, fanged grin. He had slanted green eyes that were a little too familiar, and blond hair like his mother.

"Shit…you had a baby..."

"Yeah…"

"My name's Natsu!" the boy said.

Laxus sank down to the boy's level and felt his heart race at all the sudden emotions. Natsu death profoundly impacted everyone. It not only hurtful to those who knew him, but it signalled the beginning of the end. Watching him die, and inheriting his fire, Laxus knew they were going to lose and that the world was about to change.

A burst of death magic started to swell from the forest and Lucy said, "Inside!"

Inside of her tiny hut, she actually had a basement protected by strange runes. There was a library, with books everywhere, and a bed for herself and her son.

The runes kept them completely isolated from the outside world, both from the sights and sounds of the battle going on inside. It was strangely peaceful, as Laxus couldn't even feel the magic as they raged on. He didn't have any interest in fighting and no good would have come of him getting involved. For the people hiding, it was better for them to stay that way and he wasn't an exception to that rule.

The dragonslayer sat on the floor and watched as she coaxed her son into going to sleep. He seemed a little annoyed there was a stranger in their space, but he was his father's son-warm and kind. And then, much like the father he would never know, little Natsu quickly fell asleep with his mouth open and snored loudly.

Once he was taken care of, Lucy took a deep breath and sat on the other bed, looking down at Laxus. "Do you think I'm a coward?"

"I haven't seen a child who was still alive in weeks. How long do you think you can keep him that way?"

There was going to be a day Acnologia sensed his recognizably dragon-like scent and on that day, he was just going to be another dead kid.

Acnologia was close enough that this might be that night.

Lucy said, "I want to send him to Edolas. My magic isn't quite there. Celestial spirit summoning is essentially a magic that enables me to open a portal between two worlds. I already had that power. I can't get it right."

He held up her keys. "You need these, don't you?"

"Not for what I'm trying to do. I decided I wouldn't fight anymore, so I left the keys for someone else."

Laxus answered, "Jellal has a strategy that might enable us to win but we need someone who can use these keys."

Lucy stared at the keys and then said, "Those aren't just my keys."

"It's a full set."

"Yukino…"

"She's apparently been gone for a while."

"Angel could use them."

"She's dead. We can play this game for a while or you can just realize whatever name you come up with, the answer is probably 'dead.' There are no saint wizards, and most of the large guilds were wiped out during the first year."

Lucy asked, "Who is left from our guild?"

"Gray is the strongest one left next to me. Demonslayer magic is frankly nifty as fuck in a world suddenly overrun by demons. He's missing an arm. Juvia is alive, but she's lost her mind a little. I don't think she can mentally hold up much longer. Wendy is alive, but she's been mute since Black Dawn - no one knows if it's due to an injury in her body or in her mind. Cana and Lisanna are both alive, but they're not dogs of war. Jellal is with us now since the rest of Crim Sociere is gone. Mirajane is still _technically_ alive, but she tried to devour one of Zeref's demons and it took her over. I always tell myself I'm going to kill that thing the next time I see it, but I never do."

The blonde stared in disbelief, even though she knew this was probably the case all along. "What about our powerful wizards? Gajeel, and the Raijinshuu, and…what about Titania?!"

"Everyone died, Lucy. There might be some weaker ones that fled after and during Black Dawn, but the strong ones are gone."

"What about powerful wizards in other guilds? Like Sting and Minerva, and Jura?"

"All dead. Lucy, we have one chance to win, and we can't do it without you. We don't have any other options and we don't have any more time. I thought earlier tonight it was over, but this is it for us. I can understand why you ran the fuck off and if you hadn't, you'd be dead by now and we'd really be screwed then, but right now everyone in the world needs you to get the fuck over it."

Lucy stared at her keys for a while, feeling the inescapable pang of grief over her celestial spirits she had missed so dearly. She always believed Yukino would pick them up and the good guys would band together and win and she'd raise her child somewhere in the country.

None of those things happened. The morning now referred to as Black Dawn cost the world some of its most powerful wizards, and once the dust settled, humanity didn't have enough spine to fight back.

Initially, there had been infighting about who was in charge of the Resistance, but Laxus if nothing else knew how to demonstrate dominance and authority. He took control and he organized them, and had it not been for him, she knew it would have been over long ago.

Even her hidden place in the mountains had been marked by him as a place that was momentarily safe for people to live.

At the moment, Laxus was the most powerful human in the entire world. For him to tell her they didn't have any options mean that humanity as a species didn't have any way to survive.

"This is a farce, Lucy. That kid stinks of dragon. Acnologia is going to kill your son. We both know that."

"Shut up! Don't even say things like that to me like I don't know. I'm trying to create this magic that doesn't exist so maybe, just maybe he'll have a chance to live. Since before he was born I've been working to get to a point where I can give him away to another world just so he might have a chance to grow up. I still feel like it might take a year. We don't have a year, Laxus," she cried.

Laxus held the keys up. "Then help us win and you can raise your son yourself."

When she raised her hands to cover her face, he noticed her fingers were bony. He looked past them and found she was lacking her trademark curves as well. When he looked for it, it could smell the acidic scent of ketosis on her, which was the scent a person's body emitted when their internal systems were in starvation mode.

Laxus frowned and asked, "When was the last time you ate?"

"About a week ago."

"When we the last time he ate?"

"Yesterday. I grew a bunch of potatoes in the yard because it's about to be winter. That's how we were going to be okay. Someone stole most of them and I don't even know what we're going to do. In three weeks animals are going to be hibernating and in hiding and it's going to be cold. I got nothing, Laxus. I told him we would eat tomorrow. The sad thing is that this happens often enough, he doesn't really know how bad it is," she quietly answered.

Most people living in hiding had to deal with hunger and food supply issues. People who had food or medicine often controlled those who did not. The idea that Natsu's child ever had to go to bed with an empty stomach was very upsetting to him.

Laxus dumped his bag out on the floor and Lucy's eyes widened. He had jerky, canned meat, a few fresh fruits, some little cakes, and some bread.

"I can feed Natsu?"

"You both need to eat. He'll be fine, but you need to go slow. I can smell the starvation on you and if you eat too fast, it'll make you sick."

"If we just ate a little, then we could make it last for-"

"Lucy. Just eat the fucking food and feed your kid."

Lucy woke up the boy, who gazed at the food with starry eyes but was very cautious.

Laxus heard his stomach growl at the sight of it. "C'mere, kid."

"We can have some?"

"You and your mom can eat all of it."

"What will you eat?"

Laxus gave him a pat on the head. "It's easy for me to find food."

"Thanks Big Mister!"

"My name is Laxus. Surely your mother has told you about me."

"Never heard of you!"

The sad thing is that even with her keys, she'd probably still be hungry. The task of living without the conveniences of civilization was surprisingly difficult. Humans grew more than enough food to survive, but there was no way to move it safely so one area might have a surplus while another starved. It was a cruel reality of the new era.

He leaned his head against the wall while Lucy and her son quickly went for the food. The boy ate until he was full for the first time in a long time, and Lucy ate until she felt a wave of nausea from putting food in her stomach for the first time in a while.

"The world really has gone to hell," he mumbled.

Little Natsu flashed that trademark Natsu Dragneel grin and Laxus wondered how Lucy could possibly deal with the constant reminders of his father. They had the same face, the same slanted, exotic eyes...only his hair was different.

The child went back to sleep soon after he was full, and Lucy nibbled cautiously, not wanting to regurgitate anything.

The dragonslayer asked, "I don't mean to be an asshole, but I have to ask. How in the hell did Natsu of all people get it in?"

"Get what in?" she dumbly asked, until she realized what he was referring to. "Oh. That. Well...that was really my fault. The night before Black Dawn, I told him I didn't want to die before I really got to live."

He was ridiculously amused by this. "The old 'I don't want to die a virgin' kind of thing?'"

"That's about it. Natsu and I were so in love in this weird kind of way. I feel like if we'd won, Natsu and I would be married with a little family now. Anyway, don't tell me you didn't think about that night too."

"I had a sex life before Black Dawn."

Lucy said, "This is a strange topic for us to have in our first conversation in five years."

Laxus scratched his head and Lucy noticed he was missing the fourth finger on his left hand. He caught her stare and said, "Are you checking to see if I have a ring?"

"Laxus, you don't even have a finger to put one on. It's distracting. Besides, war or peace, pretty sure no one would want to put up with you anyway. How'd you lose it?"

He held it up. "Lisanna, actually. It got a cut in it and I didn't take care of it. It became gangrenous and I didn't want to lose it. She argued with me, and then Cana hit me upside the head with a hammer and Lisanna cut it off while I was unconscious. When I woke up they told me I was too stupid for my own good and we never spoke of it again."

"You're very nonchalant about missing your finger," she said.

"You're very nonchalant about the fact you were starving," he answered.

Lucy said, "You know when Natsu had gotten that injury, I knew he wasn't going to make it. I was holding him close and he told me somehow he could feel the spark of life in me even though his was going out. Then he died, and I just...couldn't. Couldn't think, couldn't breathe, couldn't imagine that he was really gone. I put my keys down on the ground, and I just ran and I think I was really far away when I realized what he'd really told me."

Laxus remembered this; Natsu laid on the ground with half his insides protruding from a mortal wound. He whispered something in her ear, and she was crying hysterically. But the battle went on and he left, and when it was over, he assumed she'd died.

She left out the ugly parts, where her pregnancy had been unspeakably difficult and how the onset of the Dark War kept her on the run almost constantly. She rarely had enough to eat, was injured several times, and relied on the feeling of Natsu's little kicks to keep hope that he was going to live long enough to be born.

Natsu was born breech, after four days of labor alone in a cave that almost left her dead from exhaustion, thirst, and blood loss. And in that weak, desperate haze, she realized giving birth was just the first step. In order for her baby to stay alive, she had to live too.

Everything had been so difficult…

Laxus asked, "So how about it? The remnants of Fairy Tail protect a group of people in our stronghold. It's the safest place in the world right now."

"Where?"

"Tenrou Island. Maybe a hundred people live there now. Mostly wizards and people learning magic to support the rebuilding. There are actual buildings. There's plenty of food. They have livestock and some little crops and gardens, and there's excellent fishing there. For some reason the concentration of ethernano around the tree makes people who can't use magic sick which means its useless for ordinary people. Jellal has been using it to gather and train new wizards to help with the rebuilding we'll need to do."

"It's safe?"

Laxus nodded. "Lisanna would take good care of him while you fight with me on the mainland."

"Lisanna? You don't think she'd mind?"

"She used to love someone who looked a lot like your son."

Lucy was so close to her keys, so close to her past, and somehow, she knew she was close to her future as a fighter. While he slept with his head against the wall, she mentally prepared herself for the choice she knew she had to make."

By the time morning came, Lucy dropped the runes that effectively cocooned them in magic from the celestial spirit realm through the night.

Outside, there was _nothing_.

Less than nothing, even.

The air stunk of ash and dust, and some blood where the mountain most of the humans had run was collapsed into a pile of rubble. The hut was gone, so the basement door opened up to a world of destruction and not the pristine wooded area that had offered Lucy and her son protection for the past few months.

Lucy knew Laxus was right. It was impossible for them to stay there, and the chill in the air suggested the first freeze was coming.

Natsu came out with his prized heirloom wrapped around his neck. The scarf still carried the scent of his father, and that was the only way he knew of him. He pulled it closer to his nose and sniffed it as he looked around. "We have to go on another adventure?" he asked in disappointment.

"Yeah…" his mother answered.

Lucy was so frustrated the only reason she didn't just crumble to the ground and scream and cry was because of her son. It was so normal to him to 'save his hungry for tomorrow' or to have to move. They hadn't really had a true home, or been really safe or secure for even one minute. Natsu had never seen a playground, and he hadn't ever had a friend. There was no preschool for him to go to. They survived, and he was fine with that because he didn't know about the world as it used to be.

Tenrou Island seemed like a dream at that point, but it was about to be cold and she'd settle for warm and fed at that point.

Besides, under everything, she wasn't just a mother.

She was Lucy Heartfilia.

She was powerful, even moreso now than ever. There was a day when she abandoned her destiny and ran for her life, but there was no cheating fate.

"I'll fight with you," she said.

When he handed her the keys, she clutched them close to her heart. She whispered an apology to her spirits, and prepared for another relocation.

Laxus offered to help her pack, but she had the art of nomadic life down to an art.

Lucy's books, her son's toys, their bed...all packed in a magic space not entirely unlike requip. When something went into the space, he smelled something like the runes.

"Is that requip?"

"No," she said, hurling a bag through a swirling vortex, "Unfortunately, I am terrible at all magic except celestial magic. The runes open a portal and ethernano from the celestial spirit realm fills a barrier. Now, sending our stuff there. I've learned how to weaponize it in other ways, since I left my keys like a big idiot."

The dragonslayer watched as the signs they had ever lived there disappeared, and wondered how much magic she'd learned just trying to keep her young son alive in their crazy world. She packed one bag with the things they needed to travel, which wasn't much since they didn't have any food.

They were getting ready to go when Lucy sensed the abrupt and quick approach of an enormous source of magic.

"Don't move…" Laxus said.

Acnologia flew overhead, and then continued onward.

Lucy's heart was pounding so hard in her chest that when the dragon flew on, she realized she was so tired of being afraid.

"I want this to be over," she whispered.

"The only person who can stop it is you. No one in this world has the power to save themselves, but you, and you have the power to save everyone."

"Then let's do this."

 **Please Review!**

AN: So I've had this story inside of me for a while. I was going to wait until after I finished _Star Crossed Sarcasm_ , but I was like nah, I'll work on them both.

What are the pairings, you ask? Well, now that you mention it! Lalu, hints of past Nalu and Miraxus, Gruvia, and the crackiest of crackships, JellalxLisanna.


	2. Chapter 2

When two people love each other completely, what happens to the survivor if one of them dies?

Jellal always wanted to be with Erza, even in the deepest depths of his sin. In the endless black he grew up in, he dreamt of scarlet, a splash of color in a bleak world he was creating. Then he was removed from that world and his dreams did not change.

In the terrifying silence after the Black Dawn, when survivors were slowly stirring in the twilight, they held each other and they cried, because the sun was setting on everything they had known. By the time midnight arrived and the new era began, they'd found a more carnal way to distract themselves from the crumbling world.

Maybe that wasn't the most appropriate way to grieve the loss of countless close friends and comrades, but there was a moment where they only had each other. They coped by clinging to each other and somehow, the collapse of the government meant no one was looking for him anymore.

They would lay together and make plans about what would happen after the war. She told him she already bought a wedding dress, and he laughed and promised she'd get to wear it someday. They planned out their lives and where they would live and what they'd be doing as they grew old together as wizards and a couple and as leaders.

And then she died.

He would have gladly given his own life for hers. In fact, he would have preferred it. The only option life presented to him was living in a darkening world alone.

The grief was suffocating to the point it was almost unbearable and in the initial days that followed, he found himself miserable and sleepless, ponding whether the final life he would take would be his own.

Humanity required his survival, so he survived.

Time healed all wounds, even that one, and as painful and as sad as it was, he took cautious steps into the unknown, terrifying, formless future with as much courage as he could muster.

After two years, he stopped dreaming of her.

After three years, grief became frustrating and burdensome and he had to face reality. Erza was gone and he couldn't live his life bound to someone who would never exist in the future.

At four years, he noticed Lisanna Strauss was actually really quite beautiful.

Now at five years, he was awkward and shy with her, unsure of how to even begin the conversation. It was hard, because they came from the same pit, having lost their first love. He didn't want to feel like she was only with him because Natsu died, and he didn't want her to feel like he smiled at her because Erza was gone.

Sometimes he felt guilty, like a liar and a cheater. If he really loved Erza, how could he look at another woman? Or, worse, feel the pangs of sexual attraction-that was a dark and complicated subject.

Jellal put all these things to rest while he got dressed for the day, eyes passing over his scars.

When he came out of his little house, he spotted one of the two survivors of Blue Pegasus, Hibiki, hovering around Lisanna as she stood with a basket of vegetables.

Sometimes, he thought it might be nice to be able to strike people with lightning like Laxus.

As soon as she saw him, she abruptly turned and abandoned Hibiki to run after him. This willingness to be near him was the only indication he had that there were thoughts in her head about him.

Despite being one of the most tragic figures of the war, there wasn't a purer or kinder heart in the world.

She lost her parents at a young age, was ripped into a strange world, and lost her first and only love twice: once to the anima, and secondly to Lucy. The fact that Lisanna and Lucy had been close friends was a testament to the fact that Natsu made a hard decision; they were both incredible women.

The tragedies multiplied for Lisanna. She buried Natsu and Elfman in graves right next to one another on the same day, and soon lost Mirajane to a fate that was unquestionably worse than death. Still, she remained strong and kind, and even if she wasn't a powerful wizard, she was a powerful woman in her own right.

She chattered about food storage and the coming winter, but they had more than enough and the sea provided whatever extra was needed. Due to latitude, Tenrou actually did have a fairly rough winter, unlike the islands in the southern waters. There would be cold, wind, and ice, along with violent storms from the north.

Ironically, Jellal was good at leading groups of people and had experience in building and administration, so that was the work Laxus asked him to do. Lisanna was his right-hand, working to help manage the village and take care of its people. Most people who came were twisted and scarred, and someone who was genuinely sweet could go along way to help them feel comfortable.

She smiled, and he smiled back. No, they didn't have a reason to, but it was something, and something was better than nothing.

There was a gust of cold wind and he turned to see dark clouds on the horizon, a sign of the first chilly storm that would blow across the island.

"We'll work on getting the last of the vegetables this morning. We still have apples too," she said.

He nodded in understanding. "Good work so far. Ichiya's going to take some of the extra to the mainland and see if we can share. Bacchus' group resettled not far from where Hargeon used to be."

Lisanna ran through the topics relevant for daily operations in Tenrou Village and found Jellal was strangely distracted.

"Is something wrong?" she finally asked.

"It's going to be a big storm. Do you want to watch it come in with me later?" he replied, fixing his eyes on the clouds above.

Lisanna wanted to makeup an excuse not to for some reason, but she realized deep inside, she wanted to. "Okay."

There was suddenly a shout, and it startled them at first, but when they ran to see what had happened, they found Laxus and Lucy had arrived in Tenrou Village and Juvia had all but screamed in excitement.

"Lisanna!"

She ran and she and Lucy embraced tightly for quite a while before they finally let go.

Lisanna held Lucy's hands in hers, and Lucy squeezed tightly, grateful to see some of her friends were still there and that they still loved her. No one was angry at her for running, which had been a big fear that hung over her.

"Hi!" Natsu called.

Lisanna almost jumped when she heard the little voice and when she looked down, she knew instantly. One part of her sank at the realization that her first love had given another woman a child and the other part of her was so overjoyed that Natsu had a son-that there was somehow life beyond his. He was so cute and innocent she decided she didn't care too much about the first and went with her gut reaction.

"Can I…"

Lucy nodded. "Even Laxus gave him a squeeze. He's going to have to get used to a lot of different people loving him, and I think that's quite alright."

Lisanna pulled Natsu to her chest and tenderly embraced him. "Oh, he's so precious, Lucy. This is the most wonderful thing I've seen in a long time. You're here, and you're alive, and you have a little boy."

From her vantage point, Lisanna noticed as she looked up that Lucy wasn't healthy and that it had probably been a long time before she gave to much thought to herself. Then again, life outside of Tenrou Island was pure hell, everywhere, all the time. For this reason, she hadn't left in quite a while.

Laxus was quiet as he watched them, and he decided they were going to be alright without him. He didn't really understand how they were such good friends, but friendly character had never been his forte. Lately, he understood it even less. He was tired, and he needed to rest.

He was a little amused when he saw Natsu peek at him over Lisanna's shoulder with an expression that said, 'Why is everyone hugging me?!'

A man walking the village in his underwear suddenly caught her attention, and Lucy went on to hug him tightly.

Gray's right arm was covered in scar tissue and black and midnight blue discoloration from the massive overuse of demonslayer magic. His left arm, shoulder, and a chunk of his torso were simply gone, replaced by a metal prosthesis. Cold energy seeped off his skin into hers, and she shivered in response.

Gray picked up her son and held him up in front of him. The two stared at one another for a few seconds, and ice wizard said, "Good God, look at this face. Lucy...really?" He looked past the boy to Lucy, one eyebrow raised in question.

The blonde felt a little blush that maybe a little overdue. She'd had a baby for so long and become so ingrained into the mother role she'd forgotten her baby boy was irrefutable proof she had sex with Natsu Dragneel.

Gray was so happy to see Lucy he was almost beside himself, because he'd thought about her often. Somehow, seeing the bodies of the others gave closure. With Lucy, no one really knew what had happened. There was no body, and no clues, just ten golden keys next to a cold dragonslayer. They'd looked for her, but all the dragonslayers were either dead or wounded and by the time Gajeel could finally move, her scent was long gone.

Natsu seemed a little frazzled, so when Gray finally put him down, he decided it would be best to hide behind his mother's legs. He'd had enough hugs for one day, at least in his own determination.

In his mother's determination:

"Don't worry about him. He's getting cranky because he needs a nap. He didn't get much sleep since we traveled through night to beat the storm," Lucy said.

"Like his dad, huh?"

Lucy smiled. "He'll be laid out snoring with his mouth open here in a few."

Gray hugged her again, and then Juvia, and then Lisanna again.

It was medicine for her tired, discouraged soul.

The wind teased at a storm, and traveling with Laxus was tiring. They moved very fast across the dangerous, flat plain leading up to the shore. When they reached the edge of the water, he'd used his lightning magic to swiftly carry them across the sea, which left him exhausted and drained of magic.

Lisanna said, "I have an extra room in my house. Please come with me, okay?"

Gray had half a mind to bother her to death, but she looked tired and thin and so much like she probably just needed to take care of herself and get some rest for once. Since he spent most of his time on the mainland, he knew where she was coming from and that she'd probably had a hard time alone for so long.

Lucy and Natsu followed behind Lisanna and learned along the way as people asked questions that she was somewhat of a leader.

Lucy asked, "Are you in charge?"

Lisanna laughed a little. "Not really. Laxus is really the one in charge. He appointed Jellal to take care of the village-you know he decided real quick administration wasn't his forte when we started talking about how many carrots we should plant and what kind of plumbing the village would have. I just help Jellal. They're both terrible with people, you know."

Most of the houses in the village were white and had been created by stone-make magic, which made them very sturdy. The village was built where the old one once was, and cobblestones lined the streets that connected the neatly-constructed houses.

Lisanna pointed when Lucy stopped. "Most of the houses are small. The big structures are the orphanage, the clinic, and the school. In the middle is our tiny little market. There are actually three groups of houses. Here at the center of the island, and then on the east shore, there's a larger group up that path...they do a lot of fishing. And southward that way," he pointed to another cobbled path, "is the largest group."

She stopped at one house at the center of the main village and opened the door. "Mirajane and I used to live here together but…"

The concept of a home had become so foreign to Lucy it almost felt strange to be inside of one. It was warm, and cozy. There was heat, and windows, a sofa and table and chairs and all the other things one would expect in a home.

Lisanna had a bathtub and hot water.

Lucy bathed and put her son in sleep clothes even though it was the middle of the day since she knew he hadn't slept well during their travels, and after a meal Lisanna prepared, she put him to bed in the house's second bedroom.

Mirajane's things had been packed away, and the big bedroom was completely vacant, as if no one had ever lived there.

Once Natsu was asleep, Lisanna showered her with 'creature comforts.' She took a long hot bath for the first time in five years. She neatly trimmed her nails, had Cancer cut her hair off at her shoulders, washed and conditioned her hair, scrubbed a lifetime of grime off of her body, shaved her legs, and soaked under the bubbles.

She put on one of Lisanna's outfits since most of her clothes were beyond threadbare by that point.

Being clean, safe, full, and in a home made her feel like a real person again.

When she finished washing away five years of desperation, she found Lisanna was hard at work, sitting at the table while she scribbled in her notebook.

Tenrou Village was not only a haven for wizards who were learning the magic necessary to rebuild the world once the war ended. It was, in and of itself, a grand experiment. Most of that had been built had been constructed in only six months, so their challenges at that point were developing and continuing to thrive and grow.

It was a breath of fresh air, and a bright glimpse of hope that the world could really be okay again. The only thing that stood between the rest of the world and rebuilding was the most powerful wizard of all time and the most powerful dragon of all time.

Easy, right?

But hope was enough, Lucy decided, and she could now believe in a future in which there was life after all of this ended. She'd often given thought to what kind of world they'd live in even after they won, but seeing Tenrou Village proved humanity could bounce back fast if they used magic the right way.

They talked for a while, over coffee, a wonderful substance Lucy had all but forgotten about during her years in the wild trying to survive.

Lucy learned the reason the island was safe despite the ongoing turmoil outside was Freed, who used lost magic to enchant his very life into the protection of the island. This killed him, but effectively created a permanent barrier even Acnologia and Zeref were unable to enter.

"It makes me sad someone had to die for us to be safe, but that's what war is. People dying for other people. It was hard on Laxus, because it was something we all talked about beforehand. And of course we all told him he couldn't just go die on us like that, but then one day Acnologia came our way and he did it anyway. It saved all of our lives," she explained.

Lucy thought she was seeing a ghost when the door opened and a familiar blue cat sailed through the door. "H-Happy?"

Lip quivering, Happy sniffled before launching himself at Lucy full-force, hitting her her squarely in the chest. It made sense that without Natsu, he would have stayed with Lisanna, but she wondered what life was like for Happy without Natsu. She hadn't really ever considered that Happy hadn't ever been away from Natsu before he died.

In her mind, she could remember seeing Happy out of the corner of her eye on that day, standing frozen in place, ears flat, eyes wide in disbelief as he watched Natsu die.

She finally let Happy go, and the cat said, "Is it true, Lucy? That you have a baby?"

"Well, word travels pretty fast, but yeah, I have a son. He's asleep right now," she answered.

"With Natsu?"

"That's right."

It was a serious enough moment, but Happy suddenly laughed. "He liiiiiiiiiiiked you. And more!"

Lucy narrowed her eyes. "Don't start with me, cat!"

Happy flew down the hall to Mirajane's old room and plopped down on the bed, waiting for the little boy to awaken.

In the kitchen, Lucy settled back into her chair and said, "I'm going to go fight."

Lisanna smiled softly. "I knew you would. We've been needing you. Laxus and Gray have looked under every rock in Ishgar looking for a summoner and now we've got the best one of all. You've always been so brave."

The blonde looked toward the bedroom where her son was sleeping. "I don't want to leave my son behind, but I have to. He's a good boy. He's at an age where he needs a lot of love, a lot of hugs, and a lot of patience. Would you consider looking after him? I think you're really the perfect person."

"Me?" Lisanna pointed at herself.

Lucy nodded. "The mortality rate for the war is somewhere between sixty percent and damn near inevitable, so there's a chance I might not come back. I know back in the day, we never spoke of such things, but between then and now, nearly everyone died. If I don't make it, I want him to be with someone from the old guild, and someone who can tell him about his father. He's going to need that as he grows up."

The request was profoundly wonderful and sad in equal measures. Lisanna was being asked to care for the son her first love gave to another woman. Despite this, it didn't cause her pain, and she didn't need long to consider it. In her youth, she always imagined there would be a little boy named Natsu in her life, and if he came from another woman, he still existed and he was as precious as she imagined he'd be.

"Of course. Happy and I will take good care of him until you get back, and I know you'll be back. You guys can just live here with us permanently so you can come and go as you need to. We'll all be fine. We can be our own little family. If you think about it, it's kind of beautiful," she said.

There was a clap of thunder and she said, "I actually have somewhere to be. I told Jellal I'd watch the storm come in with him. He likes that."

"Jellal?" Lucy asked in question.

Maybe _because_ Lucy was the one Natsu chose, she didn't feel guilty admitting it.

"We're getting to be really good friends, is that strange?"

Lucy said, "I don't think so."

Lisanna dressed warm and left, and not long after, when Lucy was about to join her son and Happy for naptime, she heard someone enter the house without knocking and without permission.

It was Laxus, and he found Lucy looked a hundred times better. While they were travelling, he'd all but stuffed her with protein to help her recover, but he knew it wasn't a good idea to have her fighting before her body became strong again.

"Everything's fine? With her keeping the kid," he asked.

She nodded. "It's kind of a twisted thing to ask."

"Everything about the time we live in is twisted. Where did Lisanna go?"

"She went to go watch the storm come in with Jellal. Do those two like other?"

Laxus poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table. "Those two are really getting on my nerves. I wish they'd bang already and stop being so damn awkward."

"You've somehow become more uncouth than I remember. But how does that even work? They both loved other people," she answered.

Lucy noticed that Laxus seemed bizarrely familiar with Lisanna's house and very comfortable. That, in and of itself, was very strange to her. Her questioned seemed irksome to him, but she waited for him to reply.

Laxus sipped the coffee and realized that even though Lucy's path had been unquestionably rough, her hope was never completely stripped away from her. Natsu left, but she had a baby, so all of her hopes and efforts were tied into her future with her son.

She didn't know how it felt to wake up after the death of her soulmate and have no future at all. It was bleak, scary, and cold, and it was the kind of mindset that was damn near deadly.

"You know, just because the person dies, doesn't mean the other person has to live alone for the rest of their lives and die in solitude. There has to be a point where it's okay to give a shit about somebody else. They like each other, and if they can be together, they should be. It would be senseless to stay in misery over a corpse. Especially for her-keep in mind the one she thought was her soulmate fucked somebody else on his last night on earth," he said.

Lucy was taken somewhat aback by how raw he was, but that was always his style.

It was true though. If they lived, there would be a future, and in that future, it really didn't make sense to be alone forever. The way he spoke of it made her feel like he had personal experience on this subject, so she asked, "Did you lose someone?"

"I used to live here in this house, with Mirajane. In the back bedroom," he said.

"You and Mirajane?"

He nodded once as he stared down at his coffee.

Lucy said, "But y-you...you said when see Mira that...you were going to…"

Laxus cut her off. "I'm the only one strong enough to kill it. So I will. The personal stuff doesn't really matter."

"Except to you."

He just shrugged. "It's alright."

Lucy found this possibly the most tragic end of all. Two lovers, living together and clinging together in desperate times. When she looked back in her memories, she could sense something was there between them. To think their end would require Laxus killing her was so unbearably awful to her.

The blonde asked, "Laxus, what's going to happen to you after the war?"

"There will be plenty of work to do."

"I mean personally."

The dragonslayer answered, "I don't think it really matters to think about it. I didn't really come here for the great conversation, which is good, because this would have been a disappointment. We need to talk strategy."

"Okay."

"When you were pregnant, did you have proper nutrition? I'm concerned your bones might be weaker. I don't know if it makes a difference at this point, but I want you to pound as much milk and meat as you can over the next couple of weeks. Porlyusica's here - do whatever she tells you. You'll train with Juvia and me every day. When the winter has set in all the way, we'll leave. A lot of Zeref's demons are dormant in the winter so it'll make what we have to do easier."

Lucy listened carefully, but everything he said was common sense and she already knew most of it. Winter tended to be a calmer season for surviving humans on the mainland when it came to the war, which was a relief since it was also the most difficult one to survive.

"Do you have any permanent injuries? I've noticed you limp a little."

Lucy said, "Something went wrong when I was giving birth. I've had this weird pain since then. I'll ask Porlyusica. I was meaning to ask, what _is_ the plan?"

Laxus explained, "We have two problems. Acnologia _can_ be killed if I join forces with Zeref, but afterward, we have the real problem that Zeref cannot be killed due to Ankhseram's Curse. In the beginning of the war, Jellal did some experiments on Zeref by attacking him with different types of magic. Her determined the source of his magic is not terrestrial-it comes from some other world. We know he can't die, and the reason is that he has magic that continually flows into his body from this other place. Jellal believes the curse is essentially a gate between Zeref and Ankhseram."

"A gate…"

"He believes a powerful celestial spirit summoner could leverage that magic to temporarily close the gate, making Zeref mortal. The plan depends on several things: we have to kill Acnologia first with Zeref's help, because if we kill Zeref first, we won't have the power to get rid of the dragon. And immediately after, we turn on Zeref. It's a big gamble. If Jellal is wrong, we could lose everything."

Lucy resolutely said, "He's not. There's a gate between Zeref and somewhere. I felt it during Black Dawn. Magic was surging into his body and it wasn't from the ground or the air. I remember asking Cana if she could see it, but I was the only one. I didn't understand why until right now."

"Do you think you can do it?"

The corner of her mouth ticked up. "Laxus, I've spent the last five years trying to open a portal to Edolas. I know my magic can affect gates to other worlds, and closing a gate is easier than opening one. I'm very strong now, even stronger with my keys. And one thing I found in my travels...i found the Book of Eclipse, penned by Zeref and Anna Heartfilia. Celestial magic is a lot bigger than keys, even if I'm twice as powerful with them."

Laxus felt relieved to hear her speak with confidence as it was a 'high magic' issue. His magic expertise was great in specific areas, but brilliant minds like Lucy and Jellal had a broad scope. The reason he kept Jellal under the protective bubble was that the world couldn't stand to lose what might have been the most intelligent, well-studied wizard left.

A little voice shouted 'Mama!' and she forgot all about Laxus and ran back to the bedroom. The dragonslayer knew the boy probably wasn't in any trouble, but the shout sounded urgent enough.

Lucy found her son sitting up on the bed while Happy sat next to him.

"Mama! A cat!"

Happy exclaimed, "Aye!"

Natsu tensed a little. "Cats don't talk!"

"I talk! Because I am a cat!"

The was a little beyond Natsu's four-year-old mind, but because he was that age, he just accepted it. He was a tiny boy with a big imagination and a talking cat wasn't the craziest thing he could come up with by a longshot.

"I'm Happy!"

Natsu said, "Me too!"

By this moment, Happy had already decided that he would stay with the boy no matter what the same way he once followed Natsu. The boy was already fated to grow up without a father, but that didn't mean he had to be alone.

Happy's wings extended. "Do you want to fly, Natsu?"

"Mama, he has wings like a bird!"

Lucy smiled softly and helped him put his jacket and shoes on. "Happy was your papa's best friend in the whole world. But he better have you back inside before it starts raining."

Happy carried the squealing, excited boy outside, and then said, "Are you ready?"

"Yeah!"

The wind was blowing hard, but Lucy wasn't bothered in the least. Her son wasn't scared of storms at all and Happy was a combat-tried flight expert.

Happy rocketed up at high speed, circling low around the village and then looping around the island while his lightweight passenger watched in wonder as the world below him went by. He was like his father, pleased and comfortable with flight, excited to discover new things, and eager to soar to new heights.

Still, he was precious cargo. Little Natsu was wide-eyed and had a nose that constantly twitched and sniffed as he took in the new world beneath him.

Happy flew him up so high he could see the whole island, then low through trees and just above the water, through a tunnel right to the other side where his toes almost touched the sea, and then straight up to the sounds of an excited scream.

On the small stone porch at the front of the house, Laxus watched and said, "Your son has sprouted wings like his father."

"Looks like it," she answered.

"Happy hasn't known what to do with himself. Natsu will be good for him, I think."

Lucy asked, "What about Charle and Pantherlily?"

He shook his head. "He's our only surviving Exceed. He never went to fight after Black Dawn. Lisanna's been looking after him. He took Natsu's death very poorly."

Lucy had two dueling emotions inside of her; the mother wanted to just stay near her son, but the fighter in her wanted to surge back to life in a big way. Now that she knew Natsu would be safe, it was easy to let the latter win. She was Lucy Heartfilia, the world's greatest celestial wizard, and for everyone's sake, she had to concentrate on the fight.

Happy returned the boy just when the first drops of rain started to fall and all Natsu did for the rest of the afternoon was giving her a detailed retelling of flight from the perspective of a precocious four-year-old.

She noticed Laxus lingered, but she felt like maybe he was lonely. He seemed to enjoy being around the little boy even though he was awkward and peculiar with him.

What was really happening was that Laxus was watching them to build up more nerve to do what he had to do. He knew that along their journey, they'd run into Mirajane, and it would soon be time for him to do what he had to do. The demon using her body murdered people, and so he couldn't just overlook her as a problem.

Looking at this little half of a family helped him remember why it was important.

Laxus still didn't know how he would kill Mirajane, but he'd given it a lot of thought. There were no easy, painless, or simple ways to cause death. The demon that had taken her over was powerful, and he knew he'd probably have to destroy her body in order to cause it to cease functioning. He was actually very afraid of being left with a badly mangled body and the knowledge he was the one responsible for frying her beautiful flesh with his own power.

He had a thousand memories that were wonderful, of playful, gentle touches, of whispers in the dark, of plans. In the perfect world in which they weren't separated, they had a future. Mirajane had wanted babies when the war was over, and he didn't, so they'd had fights about it. If he could do it all over again, he would have given her anything in the world if she just could have stayed.

But she didn't.

She'd been gone for almost three years, and the closure he desperately needed would only came when he killed the only woman who had ever loved him.

Laxus essentially fought two wars; the first was the obvious one, and the second involved trying to sort of some kind of idea about what would happen in the 'future.' He'd only stopped wishing desperately she'd come back after the first year.

He wondered if when it was over if he'd be like Jellal and look at someone else eventually. Sometimes, he still wanted for there to be a future. Maybe a guild, maybe a woman, maybe those kids he'd refused to father only a few years before when he had someone who loved him and was willing to bear them.

Laxus continued to linger while Natsu and Happy ran all over the house. The boy chased the cat, the cat chased the boy, the cat flew the boy all over the house upside down while he screamed happily, and so forth.

In a cave that stood high above the shore, Lisanna sat next to Jellal and dangled her feet over the edge of the cliff while the waves started to roll and beat against the rocky face of the island below. Thunder and lightning heightened the sensory involvement of their storm-watching experience while the tempest began its merciless assault of Tenrou.

It was a sight to behold, and the mostly watched in silence.

He caught her staring up at him. "H-Hi…"

"You're so awkward, Jellal."

He smiled. "Maybe."

Lisanna thought long and hard about her next move, but if anything, she felt braver than ever. Sometimes, it was hard to believe in the future, but the day was one of many lessons and the most important one was that there was hope.

She leaned over and rested her head on his arm and he reflexively put his arm around her.

After a few minutes, she curled up a little closer, and he shifted so she could nestle in comfortably at his side.

Rain started to pour just outside the cave, creating a white haze before them, and Lisanna said, "You know what I've been thinking about lately?"

"What?"

"We have to find our own happiness. No matter what happens. If someone stays or if I get left behind. I still have to keep living and I have to somehow find new dreams and new things to live for," she said.

Jellal looked down at her. "I have something in my heart that's almost like hope lately."

"Me too."

She had never been kissed before, but it seemed like the thing to do. Jellal was weirdly shy, and she felt very courageous, so she shifted to grab him and laid a quick kiss on his lips, only to feel his arms wrap around her immediately.

Jellal pulled her in for another kiss, and it was the kind she'd kiss she'd always wanted to have. Passionate and sweet, their lips lingered in embrace as his hold on her tightened.

She was soft, body and spirit, and he was firm everywhere, as far as she could tell.

He was handsome, a perpetually broken-hearted boy whose life had been paved in misery, mistakes, and tragedy. Maybe her luck wasn't any better, and maybe they once had other plans in life. The thing that mattered was that they were there together, and there was a spark of affection that was too important to ignore.

Jellal could have kissed her all afternoon, so that's what they did. The storm rolled on outside but they sat on the floor of the cave and kissed over and over again, soft and a little chaste. As a man who had been through the process of bereavement-induced sexual frustration, he could have gone a lot farther, but she was quite virginal and deserved to be handled with care.

The rain was still pouring when he walked her to her door under the cover of his umbrella and she quickly shut the door and grinned.

Lucy had prepared stew for dinner and was feeding her son and Laxus. "Hungry?"

"More like giddy," Laxus said.

"This guy showed up and hasn't left," Lucy said.

Lisanna waved him off. "Oh, him. He hangs around because he is a terrible cook. He can't even make coffee so when he's here in the village he just sort of skulks around here. He's quiet and doesn't move around much, so you can just think of him as being like the furniture. Hungry, hungry furniture."

Before Mirajane fell and the three of them lived together, he was practically her brother-in-law and even after Mira was gone, he kept up the habit of hanging around because they were the closest thing to family either of them had. It was a weird connection, but one that was important to Laxus because it connected him to humanity.

Lucy said, "Hungry, hungry furniture actually sounds _terrifying_."

After years of having a difficult life filled with challenges to meeting the most basic needs she and her son had, it felt surreal to be in a safe place with food, warmth, and shelter. It felt even more unbelievable to be surrounded by friends again.

Soon, she and Laxus would leave the village for the hellish mainland, but if they could just win, the whole world would be able to emerge from the darkness and find the path forward.

Lucy's ambition and passion was starting to rise as righteous indignation replaced the desperation to survive she'd been consumed by for the past years.

They had to win.

Laxus could see her starting to stir, a familiar impassioned light glittering in her eyes again.

He watched her carefully as she went about getting her son ready for bed later that night, and found there was something very soothing about the presence of a mother. Lisanna had a very sweet personality, but Lucy wasn't really a 'sweet' person. She was feisty, and strong, and very kind, but she had some bite to her.

Natsu argued about going to sleep and resisted the bedtime process, which he found amusing because he fell asleep in the middle of his protest about not needing to go to sleep. She put Happy to sleep while she was at it and realized she was going to have Natsu and Happy in her bed again, as if the whole universe had come full circle.

Once he was in bed, Lisanna was preparing to retire and Lucy rejoined him in the kitchen.

"You want to have a training session?" she asked.

"You itching for a fight?"

"I'm itching for the future. It's sad out there, but here, I remember how powerful human strength is. When I think about it, we really didn't lose. We're just not done fighting yet. What victory has ever come easily? It's how we do things at Fairy Tail. In the end, we always win. We just need to hang on and make this happen," she answered in determination.

They went outside and had a sparring match in the rain that left Lucy aware that she had a long way to go in getting back to her real strength.

Magically, she had a new trick that was actually a little terrifying.

When he tried to hit her with a little low-grade lightning, it disappeared. "What the fuck did you just do?"

"Celestial spirit summoners are gate openers. Your lightning went into the Celestial Realm."

This was a powerful defensive magic, created by Lucy from nothing using the magic field she was most familiar with to help protect her son. It was also extremely powerful, not only because it could block attacks based on location and not strength, it gave her an advantage against strong opponents.

While they were sparring, he remembered she was pretty, and had a string of unwelcome and mostly stray thoughts. She was attractive, she didn't mind his personality, she didn't have anyone...he realized some part of him was determining her availability and almost felt sick to his stomach from guilt when he considered that Mira's body was still being used by a demon for evil things.

While he was distracted by all this, she kicked him squarely in the mouth, knocking him on his butt in the mud.

"Oops! Sorry!"

Laxus said, "Don't be. Trust me, I needed that."

 _ **Please Review!**_

 _Special thanks to theoginger, trich, swallowmysoul, katiekat2001, julius night, lunastarlady, dragonlady98, illustre, nightlitdreamz, kaylucylover, yousorra, guest, thornado, fairy4life, jozanimelover, megumiyoung, tiernank, saskiarosee, ladyallysa, fairytailbookworm, ryan mmon, lovelylovelylove, jenheartal, tsukichanchan, and morenoel for reviewing!_


	3. Chapter 3

Natsu was like his father in that as a child, he'd only known the love of his parent. Because of the dangerous upbringing he'd had, he'd rarely been away from Lucy, so when she slowly started to prepare him to be separated from her for a while, he was anxious.

Happy filled up the boy's days with adventure while his mother trained like a madman. The Exceed flew Natsu all over Tenrou Island, and entertained him with stories about his papa, about all the adventures in the good days, about how his mama used to beat him and his papa up for sneaking into her room at night.

Little Natsu didn't have a clear understanding of death, but he did seem to understand his papa was a person he would never meet.

Tenrou Island absorbed a colony of wizards from Brago a week after Lucy arrived and Laxus gave up his house to the new settlers since he was rarely on the island and even when he was, avoided actually going to his home.

He moved in with Lisanna, back into the bedroom he used to share with Mirajane, and slept on a cot next to the wall. His personal belongings amounted to very little, and remained in bags and a few boxes stacked next to the cot. Lucy and Natsu slept in the bed not far from him, but he didn't disturb them at night at all.

Lucy awoke often and found him staring at the ceiling with a tense, lost expression.

Laxus was the most important human currently alive anywhere because he held inside of his body lightning dragon magic and the fire dragon magic Natsu passed to him immediately before death. He was an instrumental part of ensuring people broke up into groups and scattered when the war broke out, which cut casualties. Even to that point, he was their most important protector.

But personally, he was mostly distant, and had nothing. His personal belongings included only necessities like clothes and nothing one might use for leisure. He had a strangely vacant expression most of the time, and stuck close to Lisanna because she needed a big brother and he needed...anybody.

Lucy thought long and hard about him, and she decided that the thing that isolated him most was the skeleton of Mirajane still steadily rattling his spirit.

Lisanna told her that Laxus loved Mirajane more than anything in the world. She could make him smile, even in their time. They had plans. They had hope. They bickered about a future that vanished into the ether in an instant, and when he came home without her, he'd said very little.

By the time the day they were scheduled to leave arrived, Laxus was focused on the task at hand. Lucy seemed to have made a dramatic recovery, and after reconciling with her spirits, was ready to fight.

He was having coffee and enjoying their last morning under the protective bubble of Freed's runes when a little blonde boy flew through the door at seven in the morning, trailed by a happy Exceed. Natsu was already muddy, and had a cut on his forehead.

Happy flew to the bedroom to wake up Lucy and inform her that Natsu was hungry, leaving the four-year-old and the dragonslayer together.

"Waxus, can I have some miwk pwease?"

Natsu had a minor and strangely adorable speech impediment and was unable to pronounce his name correctly because it contained the letter 'L'' which gave him trouble in some words but not others. So Laxus bent down for what felt like the hundredth time.

"La-xus."

"Waxes."

"Laxus."

"Waps us?"

Laxus shook his head. "We'll work on it."

He poured the little boy a cup of milk and watched him guzzle it down all at once, then wipe his mouth and shout. "Now I'm aww fired up!"

The dragonslayer drew in a sharp breath at the resurrection of this phrase, and he realized it had been five years since he heard it.

"What happened to your head?" he asked as he opened a drawer looking for antiseptic and bandages.

"A rock!"

"A rock happened to your head?" he asked.

"Yeah!"

"Did the rock win?"

"Aye sir!" the boy answered.

Natsu was a reckless little creature, all enthusiasm and no caution. Skinned knees, bruises, scrapes...he cared not, having been swallowed into a world of adventure by Happy. He was like his father in this regard, preferring to jump first and get bandages later than consider his own frailty.

Laxus cleaned the wound and put a bandage on it. "Be careful. Don't worry your mother so much. And when we have to leave today, you need to man up and don't make your mama cry. Don't ask her to stay. She has to go fight. You can be a man and not cry?"

He sulked, but he nodded, because he'd learned not to cross Laxus. He'd never been around a man before, and found him fascinating. Through the eyes of a four-year-old, Laxus was a giant, and the more Natsu watched him, the more curious he became. The thing that was most interesting was that he was a man, and after only being around his mother, he was starting to realize he was going to grow up to look more like Laxus than his mother: hard and big and strong.

On this morning, curiosity on this subject got the better of him and when Laxus leaned down to give him a pat on the head, Natsu poked him in the chest.

One of Laxus' brows rose. "Why did you poke me?"

"Waxus, your boobies are hard," he announced.

Laxus looked down at his chest. "...what on earth is going on inside of your little brain…"

Lucy emerged from the bedroom and glared at her muddy son, who was already in need of a bath by the time she woke up. Then she remembered that it was her day to leave him and she cared very little about how dirty he was and every bit about enjoying their last day together.

"Are you having fun with Laxus?"

Laxus said, "We were just having a very bizarre conversation."

"With this one, you never know what's going to come out of his mouth. I'm almost afraid to ask," she answered.

Natsu repeated his announcement. "Waxus has hard boobies. Yours are big and soft. Like piwwows."

Lucy froze and blushed. "Natsu!"

"I like to put my head on them when I sweep!"

"Natsu!"

"What, Mama?" he innocently asked, confused by her sudden distress.

"Baby, don't talk about Mama's boobies with men, okay?"

"'kay! I'm hungry now, Mama!"

Lucy turned and found the slightest smirk on Laxus' face as he stood there trying his hardest not to laugh, and then he realized it was ridiculous. Laughter was such a rare occurrence it seemed almost like an injustice to deny himself of the opportunity to do so.

So he chuckled, and she grabbed the salt shaker and hurled it him.

"Shut up!"

He caught it and said, "I haven't said a word. Nor do I disagree with his statements, although I don't know from experience."

The pepper went flying next, and Natsu sat at the table and giggled at his mother.

Laxus caught himself having fun with a woman, and he felt a sudden pang of guilt. It was no secret to anyone that long before little Natsu came along and even before his father sorted out his feelings for Lucy, she'd been the object of his rare but antagonizing flirtations.

Still, it was embarrassing and painful to feel physically attracted to someone while still emotionally tangled up with someone who would never be in his life again. He didn't welcome the sudden feelings of attraction that were starting to come at all.

Lucy felt Laxus suddenly disconnect from their fiery conversation and backed down too. She'd seen that for a split second, he _looked_. Since she'd had her son, the only time men had looked at her was when she'd randomly encountered other wanderers or sometimes bandits, and that was never good or fun. She'd met with a couple of groups of thieves that she believed might have gang raped her had she not Lucy Kicked them half to death. Other than that, the last time she'd had had proper attention from a man was when she and Natsu made love on his last night alive.

She wondered if he was still attracted to her, and if so, what then? It was complicated and rough all around, and Lucy wasn't sure how to feel about the idea even if it was true.

Then she decided this was all far too much to cloud her mind for the morning. Come sundown, Lucy knew she would leave this little spot in the sun and venture out into the darkness that had blanketed the mainland. That meant she'd be without her son for the first time since he was born.

They had never been separated before, so during the weeks they'd been there, she'd gradually been leaving him with Lisanna for longer periods of time. She had full confidence that he'd be just fine without her, even if she didn't make it back. Lisanna took good care of him, and Happy would certainly stay at his side.

Lucy cooked breakfast for everyone and Laxus went over the plans with her while she ignored him and watched her baby boy eat his oatmeal and tell her all about his morning so far.

Lisanna came in carrying a big book and Laxus immediately asked, "Were you out all night?"

The woman glared at him and answered, "I made a list of things that aren't your business, and I think that was number sixty-four."

"What was sixty five?"

"Who I was with," she bit back, "But, if you must know, I was with Cana, and we were working on something really important."

Lucy hadn't had as much time with Cana as she wanted, but Cana was an unquestionably busy woman. From teenage years spent drinking beyond sanity, she'd grown into herself. Cana lived at and ran the orphanage, possessing some balance of tough love and cuddles to do well with the magically-gifted orphans who were able to seek refuge on Tenrou Island.

Lisanna offered Lucy the book. "The other night when you said that you didn't have any pictures of Natsu and that your son didn't know what his father looked like...well, I had pictures of him. We went through everything we have here on the island-old Council reports stored in the caves, my old stuff that I'd put away, the old guild archives that we managed to save, even Reedus' old paintings."

Lucy blamed herself for this, because when she ran away that day, she didn't take anything. Everything she had at that moment in her life was lost to the war, and while she didn't care about the material possessions, there were some things that could never be replaced. The fact that Natsu was four and didn't know what his father looked like made her very sad at times.

She was almost afraid to crack open the book, but when Natsu finished eating, she took him in the living room and sat with him. "Let's talk about your Papa, okay?"

"'Kay."

When she opened the album, the first page was occupied by a big photo of Natsu grinning hugely with Happy on his shoulder.

Lucy felt a lump in her throat as she pointed. "That's your Papa, Natsu."

The boy stared at the photo for a long time, and then reached out and touched the page. "That's Papa?"

"That's right. See? You have his eyes, and you have his smile. You even have pointy fangs like Papa."

"His hairs are pink, Mama!"

"When you were in my tummy, I was hoping yours would be too, but you have my hair," she gently said, running her fingers through it. "You're handsome like he was."

Lisanna left, and Laxus assumed it was because even overhearing Lucy introduce her son to his father by photographs was miserably depressing. It got a lot worse when the boy got confused and couldn't comprehend the idea that he could see his father and now knew he was a real person, but would never get to meet him.

Some of the pictures had words next to them, little stories explaining these moments in Natsu's long-finished life that, at the time, had seemed so important. Sometimes Natsu laughed a little at the stories, amazed by these tales of a man who ate magic rocks and lightning and always saved the day.

Lucy pointed to one picture. "This is my old apartment. I used to live here. I remember this night, we decided to have a girls night in, and your papa came when he wasn't invited. We roughed him up a little, and then put makeup on him while he was asleep."

Natsu pointed at one of the strangers. "Who's that?"

"That's Erza."

"And them."

"That's Levy."

"I can see them?"

Lucy shook her head. "They're gone like Papa."

Not far from them in another little house, Gray was laying in bed next to Juvia, who was dead asleep after a rough night. Her head was resting against his metal prosthesis, which promised uncomfortable rest. Sometimes, he privately regretted the fact that he didn't realize Juvia belonged in his arms until he'd already lost one of them.

In a perfect world, he doubted they would have ended up together. But they didn't live in a perfect world, and he needed her as much as she needed him.

Juvia had fallen to a strange devil; there was a book that referred to this demon as 'post-traumatic stress disorder' somewhere or another in the massive caves under Tenrou Island where Jellal had stored away much of the world they once knew.

Her mind was in knots; she felt like she didn't deserve to live when so many had died. She felt ashamed to feel any joy with him when every other couple was split by death. The pain came in different forms, and he didn't know if it was going to manifest as night terrors, paranoia, or a crisis of guilt.

Her magic had grown to the point she was incredibly powerful, but her mind was barely hanging on.

Gray was her caretaker, her lover, her counselor, her doctor, her friend...whatever she needed, he tried to fill that position because when it came down to it, he couldn't bear the idea of losing her.

She had scars on her wrists from a night when he wasn't home, so he was afraid to leave her again. He was also afraid to take her away from Tenrou Island.

Juvia awoke and sat up, glancing down with a look of remorse for the prior night's terror. Their house was a mess, covered in items she'd thrown everywhere in an emotional state she did not understand or have power over. "Juvia is sorry."

"It's okay. Juvia's here, and that makes Gray happy," he gently answered.

She stood up and started cleaning up. "There's no excuse for it."

"We're going to be okay."

"You always tell Juvia that. But things haven't been okay in a very long time. Juvia isn't sure if she believes in 'okay' anymore," she quietly said.

Gray got out of bed and helped her clean up, trying to find out what he could say to encourage her. He knew it wasn't her fault, and she wasn't just weak. He'd seen great warriors and crumble left and right as the world slowly spiraled into ruin.

He said, "While I'm gone, spend some time time with Little Natsu. I think you'll feel better. I think he'd like you."

Juvia nodded in understanding, trying to shake off the shame of being forced to stay at home because she had a bad case of the 'crazies,' as Laxus described it. "Juvia's love rival had a child…"

"Well, not really a love rival, is she?"

"...Juvia may rethink this."

He said, "Juvia, there's going to be life after this, you know. Lucy's back. We're going to win. What do you want to do after that?"

Juvia shook her head. "Juvia doesn't know. Juvia can't see anything."

Gray smiled at her a little. "I suddenly have so much hope. Things are going to change. There's going to be an era after this one, and it's not going to be so bad, you know. We've been fortunate. We still have our lives to live."

They showered and dressed (and in Gray's case, quickly undressed) while he tried now and then to talk her out of herself, but that was easier said than done. Juvia held Asuka Connell while she died, and then Gajeel. There were a million other ugly moments, but those two stuck out, along with the day she screamed bitterly and pulled Gray from Acnologia's jaws, causing the separation of his arm and shoulder from his body. She saved his life, but left his body permanently disfigured.

Around the time he finished packing, he dug through a drawer and said, "I've made up my mind about some things. We can't just be sad forever, Juvia. Everyone who died is gone, but we're still here. We have to live. It's the only way we can honor our fallen friends."

"How do we do that, Gray?"

He slid down to one knee and held up a little box. "Juvia Lockser, will you marry me?"

"M-Marry?"

Suddenly, in her mind, she remembered that this had been her greatest dream once. It had been so long since she thought about such things, and the proposal wasn't she imagined. The idea of a wedding was strange and almost alien, but she could remember that this was what people used to do when they loved each other.

Gray nodded. "Juvia, when this is over, we're going to leave this island and we're going to live somewhere and go on with our lives. We're going to survive, and we're going to live, and we're going to do it together. Marry me, and let's be brave and find that path forward."

In the olden days, it was she that pursued him, but in the dark ages, it was Gray who constantly reached for her.

Juvia cried at the diamond ring he slid onto her finger. "How can you love Juvia?"

"We're going to be okay, Juvia. You can do this. You can do anything. We've come this far," the ice wizard said.

Juvia felt survivor's guilt bubble up within her, but when Gray stood, he hugged her tightly and she remembered how many times she, as a naive and in-love teenager, had fantasized about this man asking her to marry him.

Gray was a good man, and for all his aloof and oftentimes rude rejections of her affections in their teenage years, when it came down to it, no one had ever loved or cared for her as he had.

He kissed her hair. "Because we are alive, we must live, Juvia. Otherwise, we're taking it for granted. We can't take our lives for granted."

She nodded in understanding.

"So be strong, and press forward. Don't get stuck in your mind. Believe in the future, Juvia. Believe in us. Promise me."

She squeezed his hands. "I promise."

One last kiss, and he grabbed his bag and headed out the door to Lisanna's house, where Lucy was packed and looking emotionally rattled. Wendy was there too, watching quietly from beside a window, and Laxus was sitting at the table drinking coffee.

Natsu had fallen asleep on the sofa with Happy.

Lucy went to grab her toothbrush, and Lisanna followed her to the back bedroom.

"Please be careful," Lisanna said.

Lucy answered, "I want to see my son grow up. Maybe it's selfish, but I don't want to be one of the ones that has to die. Some people think dying is some heroic action, and maybe it is. But I don't want to be a hero, Lisanna. I just want my friends and my baby to live to see a better world than we live in now."

Happy floated in and sat on the dresser. "Lucy, please come back safe," he whined.

The blonde gave him a pat on the head. "I'll be back, I promise. But if anything happens, I know Natsu is in the best hands. I'm going to be counting on you to make sure he's never lonely, okay?"

"Aye, sir!"

Happy might have only been an Exceed, but outside of comedy relief, he was as real as anyone else. He'd spent the last five years replaying three seconds of his life over and wondering what might have happened if he'd been two seconds faster trying to snatch Natsu out of harm's way on that fateful day.

This was Happy's purpose and duty; to be the first, best, and most loyal friend of Natsu's son.

Lisanna had little Natsu convinced that Happy was his father's first child, which made little Natsu and Happy brothers in a sense. The child was delighted by this, Lisanna found it cute, Happy felt honored, Laxus found it bizarre, and Lucy just decided to leave it alone and hope her son realized at some point that a furry blue cat was not actually his brother.

Once she said her goodbye's to them, she moved on to the goodbye she'd been dreading since she made the decision to join the war.

Lucy sat down on the sofa next to her son and gently shook him awake. "Hey, Natsu."

"Mama…" he smiled softly and wiggled to get closer to her when she rubbed his back.

"You know how we talked about me going away for a while? It's time for me to go," she gently said.

He sat up and frowned, but he didn't argue. "Waxus" impressed into him strongly that he needed to be strong and not cry or beg her to stay.

They hugged for what seemed like a lifetime to those waiting on her to depart.

"I'll be back soon," she said as she put her hands on his cheeks and bent down to kiss his forehead. "Look at me, and listen really carefully okay? Are you listening?"

He nodded.

"I love you so, so, so very much."

"I Wuv you too, Mama," he said.

And then, she left.

Gray looked over his shoulder at Lisanna's house and said, "He'll be fine, you know."

"I know. He's a good boy. He's always been wonderful," she answered.

The walk to the shore was mostly quiet, but then again, Lucy realized she was traveling with a mute dragonslayer, and two men who rarely had anything to say. Gray was more talkative than Laxus, and was especially talkative with Lucy over his engagement. That meant he had eleven words to say instead of five.

Wendy stayed close to her, and when they got to the shore, Laxus took out a map.

"Jellal believes we will find missing parts of the magic we need by visiting a certain temple where Ankhseram was worshipped in ancient times," he said.

"Where is it?"

Laxus held up the map. "Not anywhere on this map, that's for damn sure. It's on the eastern continent."

Lucy exclaimed, "Are you joking? It'll take _months_ to sail around the world, and that's if we happened to find a ship that still exists. We might get halfway across the ocean and then one of Zeref's dumb flying demons does a fly-by and we become shark food."

Gray touched the ground and they all started to accelerate upward towards the sky on a platform made from ice. Lucy screeched, but the others seemed nonchalant so she wasn't sure what was going on by the time the platform passed through the protective runes that surrounded the island and into the free air. A horizontal extension formed, effectively making an ice cliff over the water.

"She's almost here," he said.

"Who?!" the blonde shrieked.

"Millie."

The movement was so fast Lucy almost didn't see the beast until it was upon them, dropping so fast from above the sound of the drop produced a shriek.

Millie was an enormous, monstrous creature that had no doubt been created by Zeref. Lucy wanted to find some animal to compare her to because she was furry, but the best thing she could come up with was a terrifying and unspeakably huge falcon covered in fluffy white fur.

The beast rubbed affectionately on Gray. "I have a pet."

Lucy said, "A dog is a pet. A cat is a pet."

Gray scratched Millie's massive jaw. "Don't be like that. She's a doll. Since she's a demon, she can't pass into the runes around Tenrou. Rules for riding Millie: Millie is very fast, and if she shrieks, you better hold on."

The demon's claws were razor sharp and looked almost metallic, but no one else seemed bothered by this and even Wendy seemed to like the beast, so Lucy went along with it and climbed onto the indescribably soft and cushy thick fur. The demon was very warm, which was quite welcome as it was cold and traveling in the winter was usually a terrible experience.

Lucy laid down flat on her back and tightened her hands in the fur next to Wendy, mirroring her position. She smiled at Wendy, and Wendy gave her a shy smile back.

"Wendy, I hope someday, we can talk again," she said.

Wendy stared up at the sky and sighed.

According to Lisanna, Acnologia ripped her throat apart so thoroughly the only reason she survived was Gray freezing the wound. And while he did, the monster came at them and was stopped only briefly by Charle, who was ripped in half and discarded in full view of Wendy.

Laxus believed she was first physically incapable of making sound with her vocal chords and secondly emotionally trapped within herself. Gray believed it was probably primarily the second but that someday she'd have some kind of a breakthrough and wake up from the haze she seemed perpetually stuck in. It was almost like she was sleepwalking through life, half aware and half not, but according to Laxus, she was vicious in battle.

Millie took to the skies, a huge and powerful creature who could easily achieve and maintain speeds far greater than Happy due to her enormous wings and streamlined body.

Lucy eventually rolled over and crawled to the demon's shoulder, so she could watch the ground below.

They were high above, but in the night, the earth seemed sleepless, and dead, devoid of light and sounds that normally marked human occupation.

Gray was right next to her, and as they crossed over ruins, she said, "We'll pass by Lamia Scale tonight? Do you know if…"

Gray nodded. "Lamia Scale actually fared better than most. Lyon and the hag are alive. Sherry is as far as I know. Jura's long gone. They're with Bacchus and his group not far from here. They protect a group of humans maybe five hundred or so in total - they wander through the mountains west of here. There are extensive caves."

It made Lucy a little happy to know Gray and Lyon were both still alive. For some reason she felt like Gray would probably be deeply wounded if he lost Lyon since he was the last person Gray was to connected to from his childhood.

His next words came out of nowhere. "I bet Natsu would have been a really good dad."

"Me too. Sometimes I think about it. He was really a loving and warm person, and he was good with kids, you know. Like Romeo and Asuka. When Natsu was born, I remember just crying while I thought about how different things would be if Natsu had lived, but at the same time, I don't think Natsu would be alive now even if he'd lived through that day," she sadly answered.

"What makes you say that?"

Lucy replied, "Natsu would die a thousand times before he let one of his friends perish. Have you ever really thought how hard it would have hit him? Erza especially. I think Natsu as being the symbol of the way things used to be. Remember? The good guys always score a comeback. Evil loses. We all hug and laugh when it's over."

Millie shrieked and as warned, Lucy clenched her fists in the thick fur and held on as tight as she could as the demon shifted positions, upright in the air before picking up a near incomprehensible amount of speed as it headed _west_ , the opposite direction than where they were trying to go.

They soon saw there was smoke on the horizon, and the silhouette of a massive demon that was revealed when flashes of magic discharged.

"The settlement is under attack!" Gray said, looking over at Laxus, who narrowed his eyes at one of the scents that hit his nose.

The demon came to a rest on the side of a rock hill at the edge of the region where Lyon and Bacchus were desperately trying to protect a group of humans.

There was a terrible, enormous beast that reminded Lucy vaguely of Deliora smashing mountains and huts indiscriminately, and when Lucy looked up, she saw the most terrible thing of all-the thing that made Laxus tremble as he stood next to her.

Mirajane was sitting on the monster's shoulder, legs crossed as she gave it commands. Or, rather, the demon that had taken over her body was there. She had a giant black lacrima that looked almost like a crystal ball in her hands, and upon noticing them, she stood up and extended her wings.

To Lucy, the demon looked very similar to how Mirajane looked in Satan Soul Takeover, but her eyes were red and there was an aura of darkness constantly surrounding her.

She looked up at Laxus, and found his countenance fearful and hesitant.

He took a deep breath, and tried to clear his mind. This was the night he'd do it; he made himself that promise.

"Let's split. Gray, Wendy, take Millie and attack the big demon...I assume Lyon and the others are down there. The She-Devil will come after me, so you'll be able to kill the larger demon. Lucy, stay with me," he said.

Wendy and Gray mounted the demon and just as Laxus predicted, Millie flew to the right of the huge demon and Laxus and Lucy started to slide and jump down the hill only to see the She-Devil take to the sky, flapping her demon wings in pursuit of Laxus.

It was not an accident that this happened to Mirajane; Zeref identified Laxus was the leader of the human Resistance early on, perhaps even weeks into the war, and he mulled over ways to nullify the threat of his existence. Laxus was packing enough heat Zeref wasn't confident he could rid the world of Acnologia without him, but he couldn't tolerate the dragonslayer's interference with his own plans.

Zeref tried bribing Laxus, tried killing some of his friends, tried reasoning with him, but ultimately, he found Laxus had nerves of steel and more resolve than anyone.

He made the demon inside of Mirajane's body specifically for this purpose. It's original body was never intended to last long, and he named it Enaj-arim. The demon had a pocket of magic power inside of her that Mirajane didn't sense, so when she attempted to takeover the demon, Zeref unsealed the demon's true power and it consumed her.

Laxus felt it was a tragedy of Mirajane's own doing until he got home and Levy pointed out that Enajarim was Mirajane spelled backwards, which revealed that Zeref _made_ the demon only for this. Levy eventually fell at the demon's hands while trying to 'save' Mirajane, only to discover there was nothing left to save.

Zeref was tremendously successful in his goals; if he was doing something and he didn't want Laxus to interfere, he only had to send the She-Devil. She nullified his presence entirely.

Even three years later, Zeref could control how Laxus responded with her presence.

"You better get ready to fight because the She-Devil is a nasty bitch," he warned as she hovered above them.

Lucy asked, "What's that she's holding?"

"I'm not sure. I've never seen it before."

At that, Mirajane tossed the orb aside and dark energy started to collect in her hands.

The attack came fast, and blasted a hole right between Laxus and Lucy, effectively separating them.

It wasn't until Lucy saw it with her own eyes that she realized how dark, sad, and twisted it really was. Laxus didn't want to hit her (much less kill her), and she could see he was very emotionally involved, something rare for him. If he fought with his feelings, it was out of loyalty and friendship and all those good things.

But the She-Devil made him weak, hesitant, and distracted.

Lucy's instinct was to try and find some way to help him. She didn't want to attack Mirajane either, but if Laxus had to do it, she had no excuse.

As for him, he was swinging almost blindly, lost in a memory from three years ago while he tried to fend off his vicious attacker.

 _Mirajane gave him hope._

 _She was on top of him, light spilling on her from the open window as she bent down to kiss him. They'd just finished a little romp and he was grinning like a madman because he appreciated the view so much._

" _You're so simple, you know," she said with a laugh._

" _There's no point in being sophisticated or whatever. Like fuck, if I have sex and food and sleep, life is good," he answered._

 _Mirajane kissed him. "So, after the war, where are we going to live?"_

 _Her boyfriend grinned. "I was thinking maybe in a building. Four walls, perhaps a roof."_

" _I was thinking that we could be part of the group that resettles the Magnolia area. We'll have a little house next to the lake. You can re-open Fairy Tail and be guildmaster."_

 _That did sound good, and he would have done anything to skip the present time and advance to the future._

 _Laxus sat up on his shoulders. "I sometimes think you'd make a good wife, then you kick my ass for leaving my shoes all over the house."_

" _A wife? Mrs. Mirajane Dreyar? I like it," she said, giving him another kiss._

 _Mirajane snuggled up close and whispered, "I want to have your babies."_

" _I don't think so. Who wants to have a fucking kid in this world? And besides, you know everyone in my family, so you know you'd be shit out of luck hoping for a nice little boy," he said._

 _His girlfriend teased his ear with her fingertip. "A boy? I want us to have girls. Lots of 'em. I just can't get over the idea of you as father to a bunch of little girls."_

" _Not gonna happen. I'm not knocking you up, but if I did, only males are born into my family," he answered._

 _Mirajane smiled, "You keep it up with your sexual appetite and all precautions aside, it'll happen eventually."_

 _He stuck his nose in the air. "Please don't say things that make not want to fuck. There's no beer and no music here, so don't ruin sex too. I need to be motivated when I fight, you know. Give me something to live for."_

" _I am. Babies! I've decided our first daughter will be named Luna Dreyar. She'll have my eyes and your hair. God, I hope she gets those girly Dreyar eyelashes," she said with a giggle._

Suddenly, he was on the ground, and everything hurt.

Careless, distracted, lost in the past he couldn't get back, he'd let his guard down and paid the price like he always did. Laxus brought a hand to his side and raised it to his face, trying to assess how much blood he was losing as a result of the She-Devil slashing his side with her claws.

Right behind Mirajane, Lucy trying to attack with Loke, but the demon was powerful enough she could be dismissive of them and focused on Laxus.

Loke stared with worry at the fight taking place between the She-Devil and Laxus. "Lucy…"

"Poor Laxus...look at him…"

The lion spirit said, "Do you care about your friend?"

"Him? Of course."

Loke tensed and said, "Do you want to win the war?"

"Of course."

" _ **Kill her."**_

"What?!"

Loke said, "Zeref did this to Mirajane just to weaken Laxus. As long as she's alive, he's weak. When she dies, if he's the one who kills her, he'll stay weak. That is the plan. You can save him."

It was written somewhere 'Lucy Heartfilia does not kill,' but whoever wrote that, and whenever it was penned, this was a new world. If they wanted to not be killed, they had to kill. There were no moral lessons, no opportunities for repentance for the enemy, and no one they fought in battle was going to turn their lives around and befriend them later.

Lucy choked down her crisis of conscience, because like it or not, the best thing she could do for everyone was end the demon's life so Laxus wouldn't have to carry that burden.

Loke squeezed her hand. "You can do this. You're strong. The demon has access to Mirajane's memories, so she won't expect it. She'll be watching Laxus, fighting him. Wait for your chance and take it."

Lucy donned Cancer Star Dress, her most unquestionably lethal Zodiac form. She had a curved shortsword in each hand and as she held the blades, she reflected on how often they'd wielded swords and knives in the olden days and how rarely anyone actually died.

Laxus was meanwhile summoning up the nerve to do what he felt needed to be done. The She-Devil was going to hamper their plan, and he knew that. He had to look forward to the future and stop reflecting on the past, or the past was going to kill him.

He delivered a lightning-charged blow to the She-Devil's stomach and the demon was surprised by the amount of force he was using. Laxus never fought her seriously, never with the intent to kill, but when she stood and looked into his eyes, she knew he'd finally gotten his head in the game.

The She-Devil put her hands on her stomach and spoke in Mira's light, sweet voice when he moved in again. "Don't hit me so hard in my belly. How am I going to carry little Luna?"

He hesitated, and she slashed him again with a little giggle, this time deeply and across his shoulder.

"I don't know why you care. You didn't want Luna to be made and now she won't be. Isn't that what you wanted?" the She-Devil asked.

"SHUT UP!" he roared, but he didn't move any closer.

The demon smugly left her battle stance and put her hands on her hips. "She only wanted to make you happy, but you didn't care what she wanted. Your life is always about you. Even now, you want to destroy me for your own gain."

His insecurities had been pointed out, and he flinched when she came at him but steeled his resolve.

"You are _not_ Mirajane!" he roared.

Laxus flew at her and hit her with all he had. He was faster than she was, and stronger. Had he the nerve, she would have been dead the first time he'd seen her. But even as he struck her, over and over, he could hear Mirajane's voice.

" _Someday, when we're old, I imagine we'll be laying in bed just like this. But by then we would have lived through the war, and had a family, and been happy."_

Lucy couldn't help but cry while she waited behind a tree. It was one of the worst, saddest, most twisted things she'd seen in her life, and there had certainly been some dark moments before then.

The She-Devil realized he had every intention of killing her and taunted him. "You can't kill the one you love, can you? We're supposed to get old together!"

"SHUT UP! MIRAJANE IS DEAD!" he shouted, preparing to put everything he had left into a killing blow.

She shifted into Mirajane completely, looking identical to the woman he'd known and loved, down to her big blue eyes and strange bang-ponytail and magenta dress. "Laxus, I love you. Please don't hurt me anymore…"

He froze.

The demon took a step back to laugh at him and saw Loke standing there.

Loke calmly said, "Enough."

Lucy spun from behind the tree when the demon attacked Loke and pierced her with the blades through the back, charging them with as much celestial magic as she had to give. This energy was highly toxic to demons and the She-Devil felt her organs suddenly cease functioning.

The blades protruded from her chest, and then Lucy pulled them free and watched as blood gushed from the wounds and the demon fell, but she didn't hit because her body, which had maintained for years only due to magic, turned to dust.

There was a gust of wind, and it carried the dust away.

Loke had been sent back to the Celestial Spirit World due to the attack and the demon was gone, leaving Laxus and Lucy in the rocky valley alone. They could hear the other battle, but it was clearly going Gray's favor.

Laxus seemed blank for a long time, but finally he bowed his head, almost shamefully. "I was too weak, after all."

Lucy took a couple of cautious steps forward, and then wrapped her arms around him. "Don't be stupid, Laxus. That's not something anyone should be able to do."

His arms were limp at his sides for quite a while. "Hugs don't fix anything."

"But they feel nice, right? It's okay for you feel okay sometimes."

He finally gave in and embraced her properly and found she was right. Hugs did feel really nice in a moment like that. "Thank you," he whispered.

And then, when he got tired of the hug:

"Little Natsu was right."

"Right about what?"

"They _are_ soft. Wike a piwwow."

Lucy pulled back and slugged him in the stomach. "Idiot!"

He looked up at the other fight and said, "They're fine. It'll be over in a minute."

Laxus sat on a rock and lifted his shirt, burning his slash marks closed with lightning. This exposed his scarred abdomen to Lucy, who sat down next to him and studied his reactions. "Stop staring at me and ask me how I feel if that's what you want."

"Okay, how do you feel?"

"Relieved. Grateful. Mirajane would kick my ass if she knew how pathetic I was."

"The demon mentioned a name. Luna? Who is that?"

Laxus shook his head. "Mirajane had already picked out names for our kids. I always pretended I didn't pay attention. Luna, Fiona, Hannah, Annette, and Makarov would be the boy-she imagined him as somewhat of a menace. In her mind, we'd live by the lake in Magnolia, reopen the guild."

"Can I tell you something? Something I've never told anyone," she asked.

He nodded.

Lucy stared down at the ground and said, "After Natsu and I...you know. We talked. We talked a lot. Being young we were always too scared to be honest with each other, but on the brink of doom, it was real. He told me he had fallen so hard in love with me he didn't know what to do anymore. He wanted me move into his house in the woods. He turned so red and told me he wanted to be a dad someday, and I told him I thought that would be wonderful."

Her eyes got teary and she said, "But Natsu died. I was so mad at him. I was angry at myself then because I was pregnant. And I would lay in caves, or out in the woods, or wherever and think about that house in the forest and then cry because that was never going to happen."

Laxus wasn't sure what to say to this, or if any answer was expected. It comforted him in a strange way to hear it. "So there's no house by the lake and no Mirajane, and no house in the woods and no Natsu. I assume from this we are destined to be homeless and solitary for the rest of our lives. But I'm a living person, and I want to believe in something. I tried hard not to."

There was a crash and it was followed by silence, signaling success from Gray and Wendy.

Lucy answered, "You know what gives me hope? Seeing how we're figuring out how we fit together. Lisanna is a sister to you because she needs a brother. Your like my son's weird uncle because he needs a man in his life. Jellal is with Lisanna because they both need someone to love. When I think about those things, I know we'll be alright eventually."

They stood and he gave her a pat on the head. "That was encouraging until you labelled me the weird uncle. But anyway, you want to go check on the others?"

She sensed he was more upset than he let on, so she left him alone and joined Gray and Wendy.

Once he was alone, Laxus clenched a handful of dirt, and cried while he heard a familiar voice that now only existed in his mind.

" _Whatever happens, Laxus, promise me you won't stop believing in the future, okay? Even if it's hard now, the future is going to be wonderful. I'll be there with you no matter what. I love you."_

When he calmed down, he let the dirt sift through his fingers. He smiled a little sadly, and uttered one word:

"Liar."

 _ **Please Review!**_

 _ **Special thanks to DarkFae7, SailorTardis498, pandorababe, JenHeartAl, kayLucyLover, MegumiYoung, saskiarosee, LunaStarLady, katiekat2001, dragonlady, swallowmysoul, FairytailBookworm, Tiernank, westerngoddess, guest, and yousorra for reviewing!**_


	4. Chapter 4

He was grieving.

Or maybe it wasn't even grief. Grief was three years ago when Laxus realized Mirajane's life had effectively ended. This was some strange, hollow pain that came with that last thread being cut.

Laxus tried to keep it was quiet as was possible while traveling across the world on the back of a demon tamed by the world's only living demon slayer. They all tried to respect the fact they couldn't really give Laxus any privacy by not starting unnecessary conversations, but then Gray and Lucy also tried to not isolate him as well and started awkward conversations. Despite everything they'd all been through, helping a person struggling with emotions was always difficult, and there were no easy answers.

There were moments they were all lost in their private hells: Gray was struggling with both the overwhelming nature of his magic and fact that the woman he loved was desperately out of her mind. Wendy was in a world of hurt, but utterly silent about its nature. Laxus was truly letting go of the only woman who had ever truly loved him. Lucy was fighting the fear that the entire world—and her son's very life—depended on her doing everything right.

At the moment, they were flying over the vast ocean, something that just didn't happen in this era. There were monsters in the air and monsters in the sea, and the appearance of such effectively ended communication between continents. According to Jellal, there had been no rumors of successful crossings to or from the other continent since the world had fallen apart.

They didn't really know what to expect. It was possible the other continent hadn't been so adversely affected. It was also possible it was affected more terribly since there were supposedly far fewer wizards of great power. It wasn't even known for certain if Acnologia or Zeref had even treaded on the strange lands.

Lucy sat atop the back of Gray's pet demon and wondered what they'd find. It would be beyond surreal if they found the continent untouched by disaster. What if everyone was just living their lives because nothing happened there? She'd already grieved the end of the world she knew, and some part of her was bitter at the idea that some people might still live in it.

It was abysmally dark on this night, a heavily overcast new moon. The stars were hidden, there was almost no light at all, and as Lucy looked down over the water, it was a wavy, black void beneath them. Endless, bleak, and mysterious, like the future itself.

Suddenly, the surface of the water broke and Millie cut her angle of flight abruptly to avoid the demon that leapt from the depths. Gray managed to grab on, Laxus was dislodged but used lightning form to prevent himself from falling, and Wendy was able to use her magic to prevent herself from falling.

But Lucy fell, and she was falling farther than a person could fall and not die.

A shadowy, huge monster that vaguely reminded her of a giant octopus rose to the surface of the water, tentacles flying. One of them snatched her out of the air, and as it wrapped around her with crushing force, was struck by lightning that was carefully channeled around her body and down the slimy tentacle to the monster's body.

Lucy was dropped and began a second, less-dangerous ascent.

Laxus was worried about her, but he caught a glimpse of gold just before she hit the water.

There was a shift in magic power from beneath the depths, and golden light started to illuminate the water as it began churning in a vortex.

Lucy emerged from the water riding on the back of one of the Pisces eels, and from that vortex came Aquarius.

Millie swooped low and the others got to see Celestial Spirit magic at level they'd never witnessed before. Lucy Heartfilia was not a cute teenage girl summoning moderately powerful spirits. She was a monster like anyone else who had survived and in accordance with her deeper level of understanding of her magic and the growth of her power, her spirits were equally more dangerous.

A tentacle swung at her, and Laxus zapped it as Millie flew low. It seemed extremely ill-advised to get in the water to fight, but then again, Lucy Heartfilia was commanding a mermaid and a pair of eels. The tentacle swung, and Pisces dragged her under the water, then rose again as she gasped for air before disappearing again.

Gray jumped down when Millie flew low again and froze a little iceberg he could land on, then proceeded to freeze a thick little patch he could stand on. Wendy joined him immediately thereafter, and then Laxus.

Lucy surfaced immediately next to them, coughing on ocean water. "Hi guys."

"So many questions, but I'll wait until we're done. A demon like this is armor-plated on the top, probably soft at the bottom. We'll need to destroy the tentacles, and then force it to roll over in the water somehow. Laxus can probably blast the hell out of it once we get to that point," Gray said, leaning on his experience and instincts as a demonslayer.

Wendy swept the clouds away with a Sky Dragon's Roar, allowing the stars to cast enough light on them they could see the movements of the monster better and then they spread out, one by one, and picked off the tentacles while Aquarius rocked wave after wave against the monster and the long Pisces eels tangled with the tentacles, disabling them so Lucy could shoot arrows using Sagittarius Star Dress.

Gray cut, Laxus blasted, and Wendy used her magic to strengthen them and weaken the enemy.

Once the tentacles were down, Lucy's new spirit Pisces carried her to where the others were and then the eels wrapped around the body and in combination with Aquarius and Wendy, rolled the monster over so it could be properly fried by a series of very powerful lightning strikes.

Millie then picked them up from the ice, and they continued on their way.

Lucy was soaked and she was freezing. The ocean had been colder than any water she'd ever been submerged in, and now that she was out, she was left shivering in the cold air, trying to keep her body flush against the warm demon.

Gray spoke first as he came to sit next to her. "You shot arrows off the back of a celestial eel."

"You're wearing pants," she said.

"Touche."

She tried her hardest not to visibly shiver because she didn't want anyone to know how cold she was, but long after they'd all become quiet, her teeth wouldn't stop chattering. She knew her body temperature was dropping, but after fighting so hard, she didn't want to admit her humanity was still so weak. They were two dragonslayers and a demonslayer, and she was just a human with some powerful magic.

When she was so miserable she didn't know if she could take it, she felt Laxus' magic move close to her.

"Take your clothes off. No one's looking," he commanded.

Lucy made an argument, about her clothes packed away in bags and how they couldn't stop and unpack and she didn't have anything else to wear.

He took his coat off. "And put on this."

It was nonsensical to argue with him, so instead, she said, "Turn around."

He did, and she looked around and found Wendy and Gray were both sound asleep on the beast's back. She stripped off her soaking wet clothes, and as she sat up, the wind dried her bare skin just enough that when she put the big, fluffy coat on, it was nearly heavenly to her. Between the warm demon and the thick coat, she felt a little better immediately.

"Thanks," she said.

He put a hand on her back, and she felt warmth spill into her body through the coat. It wasn't lightning magic; it was the magic that Natsu had given to Laxus in his final moments. It still felt like Natsu; warm, kind, and painfully familiar.

She put her face down and she cried, and he pretended he didn't hear, although his hand moved in a motion that was almost a comforting rub until her body had heated up to its normal temperature again.

Lucy nodded off and when she awoke, it was to the sensation of Millie landing on firm ground.

As far as anyone knew, this was the first successful crossing of the ocean since Black Dawn.

Millie landed on a wooded hill, disappearing into the trees.

Lucy was annoyed to awaken wearing only Laxus' coat, but quickly dressed and ate with the others while they prepared to go down into the city. There was a temple somewhere in the city that had been standing since ancient times as a place to worship Ankhseram.

The only noise anyone could hear were insects, birds, things common to nature.

Not far, they could see the rubble of a city levelled by disaster or war or both, but the ancient city Ankh remained undisturbed. The dark stone buildings were still intact and when they hiked down to the city, it still looked and felt ancient.

The city was on a hill and had a wall around it that had been sealed up completely.

When they attempted to breech the wall, they found powerful, old runes surrounded the city. They attempted to go over, and then even under using Virgo, and found the city was perfectly protected much like the runes on Tenrou Island—no one was going to go inside.

"Well, fuck," Laxus grumbled.

It was one of those moments where they would have killed to have Freed or Levy around, and then what came after was the moment where they remembered why neither was present.

The fact that the runes appeared inside out indicated they'd been written from inside the runes and not the outside, which meant the only way to get around them would involve someone already being on the other side.

Laxus stared at the writing, because he did know a few things about runes. He'd used them while fighting Wahl, and that required enough expertise that he could piece together some of the words.

Lucy was attempting to do something similar, as she knew a couple of magical languages but not necessarily how to handle these runes.

Laxus said, "These runes only forbid passage by humans. If we could rewrite that one phrase…"

"Explain to me very clearly exactly what to do, so that I have a clear understanding of what I would change if I was on the other side," Lucy said.

She was a little surprised to find out Laxus was highly intelligent, but then again, there were too few people for one person to be the smart one and another one to be a brute. They all had to be top performers to stay alive and they had to be able to make it on their own.

Once he explained it to her, she dug in her bag for a light pen, and summoned Gemini.

"Gemini, you want to do that thing you like?"

The spirit transformed into Lucy…in a bath towel. "Piri piri!"

She growled under her breath and gave the spirit her pen. "Do you understand what you have to do from looking into my memories?"

"Piri Piri!"

She summoned Taurus to break down the bricks that sealed up the gate, and Gemini stepped just on the other side, standing there in the towel as he wrote in Lucy's handwriting on the runes. An opening formed right in front of them, and they were able to enter the forbidden ancient city, which was in a state of decay.

Lucy released her spirits, and they walked quietly down the silent stone-lined streets.

Everything was dark, from the stones to curtains in windows. The city had ritual sites sprinkled about, and judging from how they were staged, it looked like some very twisted, ugly things had happened there. There were magic symbols everywhere, carved into the streets, hanging in broken windows, and they quickly realized the entire city was arranged in a magical array which left the streets curving in a peculiar way.

At the center of the city there was a huge ritual site that featured an enormous pit full of dried human bones.

Lucy looked around and said, "Trivia: Ankhseram translates roughly to 'life horror.'"

"Are we surprised a city that worships the God of Life Horror was doing some twisted crap?" Gray asked.

"No, we are not," she answered.

The temple stood immediately behind the bone pit, and they climbed the steps.

Gray felt a vibration from his bag, along with a stirring of magic that was quite dark. He slid his bag off his shoulder and found the black orb they'd taken after the fight with Mirajane was vibrating and pulsing.

Lucy turned to make sure Wendy was still with them, and she was—but still only a shadow to their group. Silent, even her steps made no noise as she followed along. She found it indescribably sad that Wendy could roar as a dragon but she was unable to even whisper as a human, a sign that the two sides of her were completely disjointed.

They came to a room covered in strange runes that were carved into the walls, and Lucy's eyes scanned over them. She'd studied runes and ancient languages a little during her self-imposed isolation from the guild, so some of the symbols made sense to her.

Lucy moved carefully, slowly over them, dragging her fingers across an area to trace the letters with her fingers. "You know what I've always wondered? How does the curse fall on specific people? I can understand why Zeref might end up with a curse because he was wicked, but Mavis was cursed too. The curse doesn't pick the worst members of society, or the people with the highest death counts."

"You're definitely not the first person to wonder how Mavis got the curse but people who killed indiscriminately didn't," Gray answered.

"One of the many things that doesn't make sense," Laxus added with a nod.

Lucy rested her hand on the symbol. "Does anyone really think there's an ancient god somewhere pointing fingers and cursing people? That's absurd, because that would mean that entity—as we pointed out—makes nonsensical decisions about who to curse."

"So how did they get it?" Gray asked.

The blonde's brow tensed as she tried to process the runes, her thoughts, her ideas and understandings of the magic world. And then, it came to her.

"It's the curse of contradiction."

"The more you love something the more likely one is to kill that person?" Laxus asked.

Lucy shook her head. "This magic definitely comes from _somewhere else_. It's also magic that's intended to be used for evil in the same way my magic is intended to be used for good. Zeref resurrected Natsu from the dead and fused him with a demon…that's an evil act, but he did it because he cared about his brother and wanted him to live. So by using evil magic for something that was good, he was cursed. Mavis was using a spell Zeref taught her, presumably from the same magic source. She used it to save someone, and was cursed. Those who use this evil magic for the sake of life are cursed with becoming vessels of death.

"Think about it...Fairy Law works by taking the life force of the caster as energy. It's a rewrite of the spell Mavis used that ended with her cursed. The original spell must have used this magic. This magic is powerful, but purely evil. If you use it for good, you'll be punished. For this _contradiction_."

In the days before the world crumbled, there were still morally gray spaces here and there—moments where it was normal to question a person's motives over their actions. This allowed society as a whole to see the good in bad people, and potential even in evildoers to be understood and redirected.

All of that was gone, and there was only black and white.

Then followed the more unsettling realization:

Their world had been turned completely upside down by magic that came from somewhere else. That magic continually fueled conflict and tragedy, and had by its very existence caused Acnologia to decide to make his move.

Lucy wrote, scribbling notes down while the others watched, and then eventually decided to stay in the city overnight. Gray and Laxus went to find food, and Wendy silently guarded Lucy as she worked.

Once they were alone for a while, Lucy found herself thinking more about her companion than the strange language on the wall. She wanted desperately to help Wendy, but she didn't know how. There weren't any easy answers and by that point, they all had their scars.

So she turned and gave Wendy a little smile. "I'm so glad we're together again. I know nothing went the way anyone expected it to, but you're so strong. And I don't know how, but someday, we're all going to be okay."

Wendy was unconvinced; she'd heard a lot of people promise everything would work out and most of them were dead.

But then again, Lucy was alive so when Lucy started to talk to her to keep her company, she paid attention rather than checking out and staring listlessly around like she normally might.

"I miss my son. It's been just him and me for so long, it's hard to be away from him. Being a mother is interesting, because you get to go through all these new things. I imagine it would be a lot different if we were in another time, or if maybe his father was still here. Natsu would have been a great dad, don't you think?"

It was a nice thought; the pink-haired fire dragon as a daddy was a wonderful concept. It was easy to think about too: Natsu flashing his big crazy grin proudly at his baby boy. But that thought was followed immediately by the realization the baby boy in question would never get to know Natsu even a little.

Lucy stopped and turned to face her completely, light pen in hand. "Wendy, if Natsu was here, he wouldn't want us to be sad. He would want us to keep living our lives. He'd want us to win, and continue to value our bonds as Fairy Tail members. I know it hurts to be human sometimes, but life is still beautiful. If you turn your back on your humanity because it's too painful, you're going to miss the good things too."

Wendy's mouth twitched into a frown and she looked down with watery eyes.

Deciding not to press her any further, Lucy turned back to her work.

The men had returned with a meal they'd hunted and cooked outside the abandoned city and despite how delicious the boar smelled, Lucy stood and stared at the wall for what felt like an eternity.

She asked Laxus, "When we…with…when we got that black orb, what was she doing with it?"

She didn't want to say Mirajane's name as it felt sacred and the monster she'd killed was hardly the tender woman she'd once known.

"She was sitting on the demon's shoulder with it. I don't think we actually saw her do anything with it. I don't think it's a weapon since she threw it off to the side when the fight started. I don't think it's fragile either," he answered.

"That is the Eye of Ankhseram. Zeref took it from this temple four hundred years ago, before he was cursed. I think the runes were put up afterward," she explained.

Gray swallowed a bite of food as he sat on the floor next to Wendy. "So what is it used for?"

"Resurrecting the dead. If a person had this in their possession, they would kill…kill an enormous amount of people. The eye absorbs their life and when it is full enough, this magic can pull someone from the afterlife and replace their missing body with that of a demon. This must be the power behind the Book of END. Zeref must be planning on using it."

Laxus looked tired and annoyed by this explanation, because it meant he had to think a little harder than he might normally in order to figure out what she was really saying. "You think Zeref wants to resurrect someone from the dead."

"We can't let that happen," she said.

"We won't," Gray resolutely answered.

There was a question in the air no one so much as dared to ask, but Gray finally said, "If he had the Book of END…"

"He doesn't. I know where it is and he'll never get it," she answered.

It was a nightmare to say the least, and they all silently but collectively agreed not to discuss it further.

Due to Zeref's arrogance about whether or not Fairy Tail would actually kill the demon in Mirajane's body, they'd captured the item he needed in order to complete some part of his plan.

Lucy studied all night, and then as they awoke the next morning, closed her notebook.

"I have what I need. We can go back. I believe we can kill Zeref using the Eye of Ankhseram because it uses magic that subverts rules about life and death. If a person who is dead is never supposed to come back to life and the Eye can do it, it's reasonable to assume we can use that in order to make someone who is supposed to live forever to die. It's the cure to a magic of contradiction."

There was some interest in all of them to see how this far continent had been impacted, but exploration might entangle them in whatever problems this side of the world had. They had a mission, and for the first time, the tide felt like it might turn in the future in the direction of the survivors. Finding Lucy and then subsequently stumbling upon this wicked little black orb marked to significant victories.

The flames of hope licked a little higher in their spirits and that was good enough for now.

While they were packing up Gray's pet demon to leave again, Laxus approached Lucy and asked, "Do you need to do additional research? We could head back to Tenrou."

Lucy thought for a moment, and while the idea of returning to Tenrou was ideal because she'd be able to dig into the runes more academically and she'd be able to see her son…

"No. I'm confident that by the time we need to do it, I'll be able to."

She knew she couldn't let her desire to see the boy interfere with their mission.

He understood she probably had these considerations, and was relieved when she was strong enough. Telling her to put her work before her son wasn't something he wanted to do in any capacity.

Suddenly, he froze.

"What is it?" she asked.

He turned toward the ocean and said, "There's a powerful storm coming."

Gray overheard and said, "It won't bother Millie."

Laxus answered, "And if we get attacked and hit the water in the middle of huge waves? Wendy and I have vertical movement. You and Lucy might get pulled under. We'll wait."

They scoped out the entrance to a cave system immediately next to the ocean and settled in, sending the demon off to find her own shelter or at least to fly out of the way.

Once the sun set and lightning was heard as the wind started to pick up, Gray went to sleep in one of the cave's compartments, Wendy went outside to feel the sky at its angriest, and Lucy and Laxus sat in the main compartment of the cave.

She studied runes she'd copied in her book; he watched.

After a while, she put her pencil down. "Laxus, are you all right?"

"As all right as I'll ever be, I supposed."

"That's kind of cynical and depressing. I know you're all fucked up on the inside, and your feelings are like an ouchie stew, but I feel like you have hope in everything but your own future."

Laxus shrugged as he sat leaning against the wall of the cave, illuminated by her lantern. "You have someone to live for, so you don't understand. What happens when he grows up and he doesn't need you a mama anymore? I know what you're doing. You're focusing your entire life on his. You're no better than we are. Don't try to fix me, Lucy. In the end, you're going to be just as alone as I will be."

Lucy wanted to be angry at him, but she knew well he spoke from the position of pain. She thought carefully, and then said, "You can love someone again, Laxus."

"You think so? That because a person loses the person they care about, they can be strong and live to love again?" he asked.

"Of course. The more I see and think about Jellal and Lisanna, the more I realize that doesn't have to be the end of love."

He wasn't sure if he should say it, but she'd engaged his feelings and his anger and his loss simultaneously, causing them all to churn within him.

"So what's stopping you, Lucy? Natsu's been gone for a long time."

It felt like ice in her spirit. "Don't talk about…"

"What? You think you're the only one who can't bear the idea of putting your hands on someone else, of kissing someone else, of crawled behind the sheets and—"

"Stop it!" she exclaimed.

The cave became tense, and neither of them added to this conversation.

The dragonslayer eventually fell asleep with his head leaning against the wall, and she found herself haunted by his words.

There were some ugly, raw things about perpetual solitude. Then again, the whole world was ugly and raw, and that was a symptom of how sick everything truly was. When she was honest with herself, she'd had a thought or two on this subject in the past, but it was so hard to imagine anyone else in her life.

And Laxus…Mirajane had been dead in nearly every sense of the word for three years and he was stuck.

Yet, he looked at her.

 _Looked at her_ , like he always had, like if they lived in a perfect universe he might ask her out on a date. There was something in him that didn't want to be alone forever, and she knew that. Maybe it was fear that held him back, that she would reject him or that she'd die too.

She wondered—in that perfect universe where he wasn't afraid to ask would she say yes?

Lucy focused back on her studies, but this question rattled about in her mind. It felt silly, thinking so hard about the answer to a question he had not asked and would not ask.

He was from her guild. He was fierce, loyal, determined. He'd be able to protect her son in whatever future lay head of them. Most of the time, he was good company, even if that involved doing his best impersonation of a statue for hours at a time.

But tragedy after tragedy had twisted them until the pain and suffering was the most 'real' thing in their lives, and love was something that didn't exist anymore.

As humans, they needed companionship desperately. She knew what the struggles were of losing someone. She'd cried a lot, spent a lot of time wishing she wasn't enduring life alone, she'd felt overwhelmed trying to raise a baby alone, she'd been sexually frustrated and lonely.

When Laxus woke up two hours later, he found the lantern night was blocked by Lucy as she stood over him.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

The blonde said, "You think I don't know what you're going through. I've cried myself to sleep. I've talked to myself because there was no one else there. I've watched couples who were alive and well and been bitterly angry at them because they're both alive. I've been distressed in my loneliness to the point I don't know that I'd have made it this far if I didn't have a damn good reason to live. I've closed my eyes tight and touched myself and thought about someone who is never going to come back to me."

He was absolutely speechless at this admission, and he wasn't entirely sure he was completely awake until her body just folded and she landed in his lap, straddling him so they were face-to-face.

He drew his legs up on reflex, but his arms dangled at his sides as he stared at her with a stunned expression.

"Wh-What are you doing?" he asked in frantic confusion as she sat on his lap.

Cautiously, Lucy reached two shaking hands up and cupped his face, and as she did, she felt his body tremble.

It had been three years since he'd felt the soft hands of a woman on his skin, so even though he didn't quite understand, he closed his eyes and hoped it didn't stop. Or, worse yet, he prayed he didn't wake up and realize this rare and minimal affection only happened in his dreams.

He'd been accustomed to intimate comfort and it was taken from him. She'd barely had an opportunity to know it, having spent only one night with Natsu before he died.

He stared at her for a minute, and then into her after that when her face came a little closer.

His body remembered how to move, and he leaned his head down until his lips hovered above hers.

"Do you really want this?" he whispered so softly she could just barely feel the words on her lips.

Lucy stroked his face. "Let me tell you what I'm thinking. Maybe I'll die tomorrow. Maybe you will. Maybe we'll make it through tomorrow, and both of us die the next day together. Maybe we'll live long lives after this. Maybe we'll win and I'll get sick and die at a young age. Maybe I'll get to see how you look as an old man. Maybe we could be together. Maybe you'll find someone you like better in five years and leave. Maybe we'll stay together."

"In other words, we don't know shit about shit," he said, a bit amused by this strange assessment of the unknown.

"Maybe I'm not afraid of that anymore. Right now, I'm here. And you're here. I trust you and this feels good and that's enough for me," she said.

In her mind, she expected the situation to escalate from there maybe to the farthest extreme, but she found she'd failed to assess him properly.

All he did was wrap his arms around her and hold her tight.

Less like a hungry animal and more in a sedate, emotionally-exhausted state, he just held her close against him and let his senses consume her in a less intimate way. He engaged all of his five senses, one at a time: he listened to her heartbeat and the sound of her steady breathing, he felt the warmth of her body through her clothes, he inhaled her scent, and he let her go to look at her, leaving just one of his senses unsatisfied.

He moved in close, and hesitated.

A thousand memories flashed in his mind, and he felt like a traitor and a cheat, but he couldn't be loyal to a woman that had been gone for three years.

Lucy's offer was simple, valid, and wonderfully perfect:

"We're alive, right? We could be alive together, maybe."

He closed the distance, clenching his eyes closed as their lips brushed against each other lightly. He waited for a wave of guilt, or for his stomach to turn, but felt neither. She too seemed to brace for pain, like someone about to get punched in the face. But it felt good to kiss someone dear, and this act separated their intertwining lives from their pasts.

He broke the kiss and said, "There's something I know too."

"What's that?" she gently whispered.

"I wouldn't leave. You're a good girl. You have a baby."

Lucy cracked a smile and sat back a little. "You didn't want babies, right? I have one, you know."

"He's not bad."

The mention of the little boy brought a smile to her lips, and the tension between them started to wane quickly.

"I miss him. I feel like every time I look at him, he's getting bigger. Not gonna lie, one of the things that attracts me to you most is how well you do with my son. He's never known a man before. He follows you around and he asks you questions and bothers you and watches you, and you're patient with him."

Laxus didn't know what to say to that, but it reminded him of something he hadn't thought about in many years. The slightest grin crossed his lips and he sat back enjoying a little nostalgia and the feeling of a nice girl on his lap.

Lucy saw his mood shift to something that vaguely resembled momentary contentment, and she felt a sudden weight fall from her shoulders.

Maybe they could have good moments, the two of them.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked.

It had been three years since he'd had a woman to talk to and he'd had a lot of time to reflect on the areas he'd come up short in his last relationship. Some part of him always vowed if there was ever anything else, he'd do better.

Mirajane always said he was more of a shower and not much of a teller. This went on to haunt him when he had no one to tell anything to.

His lip twitched, hinting at a grin. "When I was young, maybe thirteen or fourteen, I came home and Gramps had just lost a drinking contest with Gildarts. If you think Cana's alcohol tolerance is some kind of freak thing, don't—it runs in her blood. So Gramps was at our little place, and he's shitfaced drunk in the middle of the day. He decides it's a great time to give me some life advice, so he's telling me about how to get a girlfriend and how to treat women…neither of those were his strong suit. I remember him telling me if I ever wanted to bang a chick with a baby to just be nice to the baby and the mother would be in my lap in no time."

Lucy _wanted_ to be offended, but it was really a hilarious thought: drunk Makarov imparting unwanted, crude, and unnecessary advice in an intoxicated state to his young grandson. These were somehow the good old days, and before she caught herself, she laughed.

So there they were, sharing a little smile.

Lucy wondered if this strange mix of excitement and fear was what Lisanna and Jellal felt when their friendship started to turn to something a little more.

It might have been nothing to most other people, but for each of them, he was an immeasurably large step forward.

"I miss them," she quietly blurted out.

She felt his arms around her, and she melted against his chest and let him embrace her.

"Me too."

"I have to get back to studying," she said, standing back to her feet.

She went back to her work, and he leaned his head against the wall and took a deep breath.

Lucy told herself not to, but even as she decrypted and processed the information, she also started to put together different future scenarios. She always felt survival for her meant she could raise her son and see him grow up to be a strong and healthy man. Since Natsu, she'd never seriously thought about the idea of being with anyone else.

Would they? Wouldn't they? She really didn't know, and even if they did, how they'd come together.

Laxus was a very strong and courageous person, but his emotional state was probably a lot worse than hers. For better or worse, she'd always had her son, and that gave her hope. Laxus was just trying to win the war, and she didn't think he had any plans after that.

Meanwhile, he was similarly lost in his thoughts. She'd taken his attraction to her and addressed it, and he'd maybe gone out a little bit farther than he wanted in saying he wouldn't leave her. It left him feeling a little exposed, but she smiled at him and that made it all right somehow.

In the past, he never in his life would have become involved with a woman who had a kid. That wasn't something to play with casually and he knew he'd feel like a wretch and a bastard if anything he did hurt Lucy and little Natsu. Going down the line, there was an inevitable expectation he'd end up in some paternal role because the boy was so little and he would be the only man around. The idea of potentially becoming stepfather to Natsu's son was unsettling, but it was also unsettling to think of anyone else in that role, especially someone who didn't actually know Natsu.

"You look like you're thinking way too hard," she said when she looked up.

"My head is suddenly full. I usually like to keep it empty."

Lucy looked back down at her notebook. "Well in that case, I'm glad. I was meaning to ask…where did the Aquarius key come from?"

"Gray found it in the belly of a demon that crawled out of the ocean at Hargeon. We've had it for a while."

"She's my strongest spirit and my first friend. I'm glad she'll be there, when we finally win."

"And then?"

"Laxus, let's cross that bridge when we get there."

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